Mai Otome: The Next Generation
by Ookami Z
Summary: The adventures of our favorite couple's children. Years have gone by and all the Otomes are married and their kids are attending Garderobe. Will history repeat itself or will the presence of a new mysterious student change everything?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to the sequel of my story, "Believing", you don't necessarily need to read "Believing" , but it would definitely help. This story is about the adventures of the children from all of our favorite couples from Mai-Otome. If you don't like Yuri, then you will hate this story, but if you love Yuri like me, then this is the right place for you :D**

*****I would like to dedicate this story to my best bud, Antonio, because he helped me come up with all the characters and how they would look like. Arigato Oniichan!*****

**~One more thing, if you get confused, which you might since there are a lot of new characters, please check out my profile. There I have placed the character profiles for each of my original characters. The information there will be updated as the story goes on so that there is no spoilers or anything.~**

**ENJOY!**

**

* * *

**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME or their characters. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**1.**

"Shizu-Kaachan!" Shizuru smiled as she walked up to her younger daughter's room, "Yes Fuji-chan?"

"I can't find my uniform…" Fujino said as she popped her head from underneath her bed with a frown, "Do you know where it is?"

Before Shizuru could answer she didn't know, Duri walked into her sister's room with Fujino's uniform in hand.

"Kiyo had it ,didn't she?" Shizuru asked knowing the answer, since she knew Kiyo always looked for ways to bother her younger sister.

Duri just nodded as she laid the uniform in the bed. "Remember to take everything you need girls. We won't come back here until vacations come around okay?" Shizuru reminded her daughters, since they had all agreed that since Fujino was starting school at Garderobe this year and Natsuki was still the principal, there was no point in commuting home everyday. The three Kruger girls, since Shizuru had decided to give them Natsuki's last name before hers, which accustomed them to rely on that last name only, would be staying in the school's dorms while Shizuru and Natsuki stayed at the principal's quarters.

"Yes Mom." Both Duri and Fujino answered at the same time. Shizuru smiled as she left the room and walked to check on Kiyo. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you…" Natsuki said as she came up behind her wife and hugged her, "I just escaped from that jungle, and it wasn't easy."

Shizuru laughed as they walked towards the room, where loud music blared and would annoy the rest of the family if it weren't because the whole mansion's rooms had been soundproofed.

Natsuki opened the door as they walked inside carefully, trying not to step on any of the magazines and cases that stood on the floor. "She is definitely your daughter Natsuki…" Shizuru teased, making Natsuki laugh, "Right, she looks more like you."

Shizuru had to agree, since the young Kruger looked almost identical to her mother Shizuru, having inherited the same chestnut tresses and other physical qualities, except her eyes, which were identical to Natsuki's emerald eyes.

Kiyo walked out from her large closet carrying a handful of video game cases, but tried to hide them quickly when she saw her mothers standing beside the door watching her.

"Kiyo-chan, didn't we tell you not to bring video games to school?" Shizuru asked but Kiyo was quick to defend herself, "I know, this are so I can play with Natsu-kaachan in her office."

Shizuru turned to see Natsuki blush and quickly walk out without saying anything, since that was something Shizuru had already warned her about before.

"Oops…" Kiyo said as she flashed Shizuru an embarrassed smiled that always worked at appeasing both her mothers' moods. "No _Oops _Kiyo-chan. You know the rules." Well, it usually worked.

"Shizu-kaachan, we'll be late if we don't leave soon..." Duri informed, peeking into the room. "Oh, right," Shizuru said but turned to Kiyo before leaving, "Kiyo-chan, please get your stuff quickly. I will wait for you downstairs."

"Okay." Kiyo answered and quickly ran to the suitcase atop her bed to finish packing her stuff. This year she was sharing a room with Duri for the first time, since during her Coral years her mothers had decided to stay home and commute to school so that Fujino would not be alone with only the maids as company.

Even so, she did not worry about space issues with Duri, knowing that her twin sister carried only the necessities and nothing else. _'She's such a dork...' _thought Kiyo with a smile. Although they were fraternal twins, they were extremely different in personalities. Duri, having inherited Natsuki's lustrous blue hair and Shizuru's wine colored eyes, was the calmest of the two. During their coral years, she spent her afternoons studying and practicing while Kiyo would skip school with her friends Diana and Akish.

Of course Duri's work paid off and made her number one Coral for both of her Coral years, which caused Kiyo to become quite upset and beg Duri to let her become top Trias as Pearl. Duri accepted after her sister annoyed her so much that she was unable to sleep at night. This year, they had agree that Duri would give the number one spot to Kiyo, leaving Duri with number two.

Of this of course, Shizuru and Natsuki were ignorant. Although they both continued to work in Garderobe, they had taken a long break after the incident with Yuuichi to raise their two daughters, and a couple years later, Shizuru had become pregnant with their third daughter, Fujino.

Fujino ran to the car that awaited outside where her sister Duri helped Natsuki place the suitcases in the trunk.

"You ready Fuji-chan?" asked Natsuki when Fujino handed her the suitcase to place in the car. "Yes mom," Fujino answered and was about to complain about Kiyo's procrastination when Natsuki took her in her arms and gave her a tight hug, "You will be the best Otome you can be, ne?" Asked Natsuki, who although she loved her three daughters equally, she had a greater inclination towards Fujino, since she had been her little girl since her birth. Fujino had not inherited either of her mothers' hair color, instead having a shiny black mane that reached down to her back. Both Natsuki and Shizuru had been enthralled when they first saw her eyes, since her iris was of the same shade of color as Shizuru's and the surrounding area was just like Natsuki's emerald eyes.

Fujino laughed softly, "Of course mom." Natsuki smiled as she released Fujino and went in to hug Duri. "Both of you, behave okay? You both are the only hope to keep the Kruger Viola name prestigious, because as you both also know, Kiyo-chan can't be trusted with that job..."

Both Duri and Fujino laughed along with Natsuki, knowing she spoke the truth. Ever since Kiyo had been old enough to go to kindergarten, she had found ways to have her mothers called in to see the teachers who always had bad reports to give about her. If she wasn't fighting with other kids, Kiyo would try to rebel at every chance she got, even going to the extremes of smuggling in coffee and sharing it so that her classmates would not sleep at nap time. Her behavior had not improved as she grew and entered Garderobe. During her Coral years, she would skip and go into the city with Diana and Akish. Miss Maria would catch them and send them to the Principal's office, but that only happened a few times, since Miss Maria stopped sending her when one day she walked in on Natsuki and Kiyo playing video games while Kiyo was supposed to be getting scolded.

Natsuki's excuse of course, was that "she said she wouldn't do it again." Shizuru was informed, and after that, she told Miss Maria to take care of Kiyo's disciplinary dues whenever she was away, because if Shizuru was there, Natsuki made sure to act accordingly with disciplinary actions.

"Are you guys laughing about my baby?" Shizuru asked teasingly, walking out from the mansion with Kiyo following closely behind carrying her oversized suitcase.

"Of course not..." Kiyo's brows furrowed in anger at Fujino's tone. "Shut up Fujino," she said as she handed Natsuki her bag. "No fighting girls," Shizuru warned the overused phrase with a light but commanding tone.

"Sorry." Both girls said in unison as they climbed onto the car.

"Everyone ready?" Natsuki asked as she shut the door on the driver's side and started the car. "Yes!" Fujino's excited answer annoyed Kiyo and gave her an opportunity to begin her taunting. "_You_ would be ready Fujino. You are just excited cause you get to share a room with Ruby-chan."

Fujino's face exploded in a dark red tint as she blushed in embarrassment, quickly turning to the window and looking outside trying to ignore the looks she received. "Kiyo-chan, please don't tease your sister," Natsuki warned, trying to spare her daughter the embarrassment which was clear in her face, since Natsuki knew that look very well, having had to endure years of teasing by Shizuru, which was something that had not stopped after all their years of marriage.

"Yes Kiyo-chan. I think you're just upset because _you_ don't get to share a room with Diana-chan," Kiyo's face now mirrored Fujino's in embarrassment at Shizuru's sarcastic comment. Even though Kiyo had inherited the teasing manners of Shizuru, she had not been spared the bright blushing gene from Natsuki. The girls called it the 'Kruger Curse'.

"I am not upset! What makes you think I would want to share a room with her?" Everyone in the car laughed when Kiyo refused to accept her widely-known relationship with the Armitage girl. Ever since they were kids, Diana had always been close to Kiyo, even though the latter always tried to get away from her. Haruka and Shizuru had gotten close, even to a point to be called "_friends" _of some sort after Haruka had given birth to Diana, which cause the two girls to spend a lot of time together. Even though the girls had not attended secondary school together, since Diana lived in Aries and Kiyo in Windbloom, once they had entered Garderobe, they had been inseparable along with Akish, Sarah and Mahya's daughter.

"Well, you can keep telling yourself that Kiyo-oneechan." Fujino remarked as the fire had died out on her issue about Ruby. It was something she could not deny, since it was quite clear she had strong feelings for Ruby, but it was something that she would never share openly, specially not with Ruby.

Mai and Mikoto had made sure that their daughter grew up with a lot of kids around her, which is why even before she was born, Mikoto would bring pregnant Mai over to the Kruger's mansion, because Mikoto believed that her daughter was already alert enough to acknowledge others around her. It was around the same time that Shizuru had been pregnant with Fujino, which is why both girls had basically grown up together and shared a special bond. Fujino had developed those feelings into romantic ones, but she thought that Ruby only saw her as a sort of 'sister' in a sense, and could never feel the same for her.

-----------------------

The rest of the car trip had been filled with more teasing towards the two girls from their mothers while Duri remained silent as usual and limiting herself to only speak when necessary. Once at Garderobe, Shizuru and Natsuki had left the girls in their respective dorms and had gone to their own quarters where they would be residing for the rest of the year.

"Duri-chan!" Duri stepped back onto the room when Yuuki's voice startled her. She had just finished setting up her room and was about to look for Fujino to help her out but had been stopped when the young girl blocked the doorway.

"Ano…Hi Yuuki-san…" Yuuki's smile wore off instantly, "Yuuki-_san_? What have I told you about that Duri-chan? Please don't address me as _san_, we know each other enough do we not?"

Duri frowned. It was true, they knew each other enough, _too _much for Duri's liking, since the younger girl had been after her for some time now. Yuuki, unlike her younger sister Jayden, was an unruly girl who was very much like Kiyo; looking for trouble at every chance she could and making sure everybody knew about her obsession: Duri. The girl had made sure to warn everybody to stay away from _her _Duri ever since she was young, since she had attended the same schools Duri did, being only her junior by a year. Every time that Natsuki and Shizuru took their kids to visit Nao's and Nina's two daughters, Duri would cry and beg to stay in the car but would end up being dragged out by Natsuki and told to be polite. Always nice and sweet with everybody, it seemed that Yuuki was the only person that broke down her usual calmness and made her go nuts.

"Yuuki-san, I do believe I have asked you to address me as '_sempai_' in school, did I not?" Duri questioned, since this year, she had determined herself that she would get that girl away from her, no matter the cost. "But…" Yuuki was going to complain but an idea popped into her mind which made her smile, "Okay, Durichan-sempai."

Duri rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance and was about to close the door on the girl, as rude as that was, but was caught by surprise by Yuuki who gave her a quick peck on the cheek and ran away laughing as she said, "Ja ne Durichan-sempai!"

Kiyo, who had seen the whole spectacle, pushed Duri out of the doorway as she poked her head out to see the girl running away and disappear as she turned a corner. "Wow…she's something else isn't she?" Kiyo asked, letting the tone of her voice show her surprise. She walked back inside her room behind Duri who sat on her desk and took out a book to study as she acted like nothing had happened, although her face showed the Kruger Curse clearly.

"I don't know what you mean. She's just a crazy kid like you." Kiyo shrugged at Duri's response. "Whatever Duri. You're the one getting old and not getting any," Kiyo ran out the room laughing and shut the door just in time to avoid being hit by the book her sister had thrown her way.

Kiyo continued to walk through the hallway in laughter until she turned a corner and bumped into a person . "Ouch…" Kiyo said as she raised her sight to see a girl with light teal hair and pink garnet eyes look straight into her eyes in surprise. Kiyo smiled but quickly found her own face blushing, and found it to be a rare happening, since it was usually the other girls who blushed in her presence.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me," The girl pleaded as she quickly stood up and extended her hand to Kiyo. "Thanks, and don't worry about it. Are you new?" Kiyo asked as she took the girl's hand to help herself up. The girl shook her head, "Yes, I was actually looking for the principal's office…"

"I'll take you!" Kiyo offered, a bit too excited. The girl smiled and followed Kiyo who hurriedly took her hand and led her through the halls. Kiyo felt a warm feeling run through her body that originated from her palm's touch with the other girl. She had never experienced anything like that before, not even with Diana.

"Here we are," Kiyo announced to the girl, who was about to knock but stood back as Kiyo walked right it without announcement.

"Kiyo-chan?" Natsuki looked up from her desk and looked at her daughter questioningly as her eyes darted back and forth between the girl's intertwined hands. "This is a new student, she said she wanted to talk to you," The girl in question released Kiyo's hand, much to the older girl's disappointment, and stepped forth to Natsuki, bowing her head in respect, "Chikane Saki, pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Saki-san," _'Saki? She looks familiar, but where have I seen her before?' _Natsuki thought and turned to Kiyo before continuing, sending her a look which Kiyo understood completely. "Okay, well, I'll be going then. Bye." Kiyo frowned as she closed the door behind her. She held up her hand that had just been blessed with the other girl's contact and felt an unknown sentiment touch her, _'Chikane…' _. She kept walking through the hallways towards her room lost in thought when she was stopped by a familiar, but unwelcome voice.

"Well hello, Kiyo." Kiyo looked up at the sound of her name to find Diana leaning against the wall. Kiyo tried to ignore her by walking past her but was pulled back by her collar and pinned against the wall, "Don't tell me you're still mad about that first year? You didn't call me at all during summer…"

Kiyo pushed Diana away as anger overtook the pleasant feelings she had been enjoying until now, "Yes, I actually _am _still mad about that. You took a long time to convince me to go 'exclusive' with you and then when I did, you go behind my back and fuck some other girl."

Diana was taken back by the venom in Kiyo's voice but quickly recovered as she let a sly smile show, "but Kiyo-chan, you know that it was an accident. I promised it wouldn't happen again, besides…" Diana inched closer to the girl until her hot breath felt heavy against Kiyo's skin, "you know you are the _only _one for me."

Kiyo grunted and laughed in a sarcastic manner, "You mean I'm then _only _one who can take you to heaven and back?" Diana smiled at Kiyo's response, already knowing she had been forgiven. It was nothing less than she expected, since Diana had grown up with Kiyo and knew her perfectly. Even though Diana had cheated on Kiyo with another girl, and that was only the one Kiyo knew about, Diana knew Kiyo did not stay mad for long with the right _incentive._

Kiyo followed Diana into the dorm that she shared with Akish, who was now missing and, as Kiyo suspected, was probably out hunting for Corals to join her in making mischief around Garderobe. Diana quickly turned to Kiyo and pushed her onto the soft bed behind her, "Well, Akish is not here and won't be for a long time, so how about we get to know each other a little more? After all, it was a long summer…"

Kiyo smirked, "I agree, it was indeed a long summer."

-----------------------

"Thank you so much!" Fujino moved in to hug her roommate, Ruby, who had just presented her with a plate full of cookies as a welcome gift. Ruby smiled coyly, " I hope you like them, I made them myself before coming here." It was a true fact that nobody could argue, since Ruby had indeed inherited Mai's cooking skills and had learned from the best. Ruby had also inherited Mikoto's energetic attitude and stamina, which meant that she had many plans for her roommate and best friend, Fujino.

"So, the welcoming tournament is tomorrow and school starts the day after that, you wanna go to the city while we have time? After all, it's Saturday…" Ruby offered, almost jumping from excitement at the thought of going to the city, since she had rarely been in Windbloom before and had lived her whole life in the Black Valley.

"The city? But…my Natsu and Shizu-kaachan will get mad if I do…" Fujino said, pondering the idea of leaving school grounds without permission. "Oh come on Fuji-chan…some of the other girls are going too…" Ruby replied as she tackled Fujino playfully on the bed. "Oi! Ruby-chan…" Fujino tried to scramble free from the girl's grip but was unable to, "Come on Fu-Ji-Chan!!! It'll be fun!" Fujino's face flushed brightly, which was something Ruby found extremely adorable.

"You know you want to go…" Ruby teased as she gently poked the girl's bright cheeks. "Okay! Okay!" Having achieved the desired answer, Ruby jumped from atop Fujino, to the latter's relief, since she didn't know for how long she would've been able to hold back from kissing Ruby.

"I'll tell the others that we can go tonight. It'll be fun." Closing the door behind her, Ruby left the room to inform Jayden and the rest of the girls, while back in the room, Fujino let out a sigh of relief. _'Now that we're roommates, how will I be able to hold back this feelings?' _Fear filled Fujino at the thought of not being able to keep her secret and having Ruby reject her…after all, it was her worst nightmare…

-----------------------

"Ara…and may I ask where have you been?" Duri asked her sister who had just walked into the room and was now sprawled atop her bed like a lifeless corpse.

"No…" Kiyo deadpanned. Tired from exhaustion, she let her eyes close. It was something she was not proud of, but ever since her second Coral year, she had started sleeping with Diana, and although she had fun, she had not entered an official relationship with the girl until recently, right before Diana blew it by cheating again. Kiyo could not completely blame Diana with everything, since she also had other games playing on the 'side field' with other students. They were in a twisted relationship where although they both cheated on each other and knew it, they always kept coming back.

Suspecting where Kiyo had been, Duri rolled her eyes even though Kiyo could not see them, "I told you to quit it. It's not going to get you anywhere good Kiyo-chan…"

Kiyo ignored her sister , turning to the opposite side and dozing off. _'Why can't she just grow up and stop acting so immature all the time?' _Duri's thoughts wandered as stood up and placed a blanket over her sister's sleeping figure. _'Middle of the day and she's already sleeping…'_

-----------------------

"So you're sure she's not backing out? You know Fujino, she tends to be a goody-two shoes…" Chuckles were heard from the other girls at Krystal's comment, but Ruby was quick to defend her, "Of course she's going. She said so herself."

"Whatever, well, Yasashi is coming and Jayden and Hana are tagging along as well right?" Krystal asked, turning to her younger sister Yasashi and the other two girls, Jayden and Hana. "Yes Krystal-chan…" Jayden answered shyly, trying not to meet Krystal's intense gaze.

"For sure! I wouldn't miss a chance to go into the city with my girls!" Hana said loudly as she hugged Jayden and Yasashi with each arm, making Yasashi blush furiously, "Besides, most of the time's I've gone to the city my dumb brother has tagged along, and you guys know how well that goes…"

The girls laughed once again, having been able to recall the times that Hana's brother, Xavier, had tagged along with them, and how much he and Hana fought. Hana, having inherited Chie's looks and attitude, but with Aoi's hair and crystal blue eyes, was the class flirt and teaser, much to Xavier's embarrassment who tried to control his sister with futile attempts. Xavier was usually the only guy in the group, and stood back shyly, only talking when necessary, completely ignoring the girls who tried to flirt with him, for with looks as his, not many could resist. With short dark hair and clear blue eyes, he was the perfect boy for many, but his heart already belonged to Hinata, Diana's younger sister who did not attend Garderobe, but instead attended a highly privileged school as first year along with Xavier.

"Well then, we will meet here at nine tonight, when everyone is sent to their dorms, and we will leave from here okay?" Krystal said, since being the oldest one, along with Hana, was responsible for 'organizing' their outing.

"Hai!" All the girls replied in unison as they left the room. "Ne, Yashi-chan," Yasashi turned to face Hana who ran up to catch up with her, "Yes Hana-chan?"

"I was wondering that if instead of going out with the rest of the girls tonight you might want to go with me? I was thinking we could go to the park? Or…" Hana looked expectantly at Yasashi with a faint blush, which was something Yasashi rarely saw on the older girl.

"Ano…" Yasashi could not answer when Krystal came up behind her and glared at Hana, "Are you trying to hit on my sister?"

Hana laughed, "Krystal-chan, don't get mad, I'm just asking as a friend." Yasashi frowned, expecting to hear another answer from Hana, but quickly made the frown disappear before her sister noticed. "You better watch it Hallard. I don't want a player like you messing with her understand?" Krystal warned with a serious look that had absolutely no effect on Hana. Krystal was usually easy going and fun, but when it came to her sister, she was overly protective, perhaps having inherited that from her mother Arika.

"What a bad name you give me Krystal-chan, I'm not as bad as it seems…" Krystal rolled her eyes as she pulled Yasashi with her away from Hana. Yasashi smiled apologetically as Hana waved her off with a grin.

Ruby walked quickly towards her room but found Fujino sitting on the ground leaned against the wall beside their room's door.

"Fuji-chan!" Fujino shot up and smiled brightly when Ruby came towards her. "You're back Ruby-chan!"

Ruby nodded, "Yea, I talked to Krystal and the others and everything is set, we'll go out tonight," Fujino frowned slightly, but Ruby tried to comfort her, "Don't worry Fuji-chan, we won't get caught."

Fujino smiled, "I hope not…"

Ruby felt a tug in her heart that made her move closer to Fujino, caressing her cheek, she smiled, "Trust me…"

Fujino felt her heart beat a thousand miles per hour but the moment was ruined when some students came walking by, talking and giggling.

"Oh, Kira-chan, have you seen Viola-san? I know she's married to the principal, but she's so hot! Just imagine all the things…"

Fujino pulled away from Ruby, "Hey! That's my mother you're talking about! Watch it!" The students turned and scurried away rapidly when they saw the anger in Fujino's face. Her sisters had warned her about such things, since even though years had passed, thanks to the nano-machines in their bodies, Shizuru and Natsuki had preserved their youth perfectly. All Otomes, and now even those who weren't Otomes, were able to get such treatments, but some, like Miss Maria, preferred to keep their natural aging looks, if anything, to add intimidation to her strict discipline.

Ruby laughed, "Calm down Fuji-chan, you can't really blame them…" Fujino turned her anger to Ruby, "You too!?"

Fujino huffed and turned to the room as Ruby followed behind her in laughter.

-----------------------

"So Saki-san, I see in your application that you have no relatives living?" Natsuki asked as she reviewed over the scholarship application Chikane had handed her. "No, Principal. They are all dead…"

"I see…" Natsuki responded as she set the application down, "Very well, then if you win tomorrow's tournament and win the scholarship, you will become 'adopted' in a sense by this institution, and all your expenses will be covered by the scholarship, so I wish you good luck tomorrow."

Chikane bowed as she stood from her chair, "Thank you Principal Kruger."

_KNOCK-KNOCK_

"Come in," At Natsuki's words, Nina stepped into the office, "You called Kruger-san?"

"Yes. Chikane, this is Zhang-sensei, a teacher here at Garderobe, usually teaches core classes as well as etiquette and others. Sensei, this is Chikane Saki, who will be participating at the scholarship battle tomorrow, but for now, I would like for you to take her to the guest quarters please."

"Pleasure to meet you Zhang-sensei," Chikane bowed in respect to Nina, "Pleased to meet you too, Saki-san, now please follow me so you can get installed for the night."

Natsuki watched Nina and Chikane leave as thought filled her mind with questions, _'I know I have seen that girl before, but I can't remember where…that face just looks too familiar…'_

-----------------------

Chikane smiled as they walked outside of the office and passed by an Otome who walked gracefully down the corridor towards the office she and Nina had just stepped out from.

Shizuru's eyes widened as she saw the girl walking beside Nina, _'That girl…'_ Shizuru walked quickly into the office, where Natsuki sat on her desk looking through papers, "Natsuki, who was that girl who came out of here?"

"Chikane Saki, applied for scholarship…" Natsuki answered without looking up, "I see…" Natsuki looked up this time when she noticed the intrigued tone in Shizuru's voice, "Why?"

"I don't know…doesn't she seem familiar?" Shizuru asked, "She does, but I can't remember from where…" Natsuki answered and shrugged, "Oh well."

Shizuru laughed at Natsuki's carefree manners, "_Oh well…_."

-----------------------

_KNOCK-KNOCK_

Duri knocked repeatedly on her younger sister's room without any luck, since it seemed to be completely empty. _'Where could she be at this hour…Don't tell me she also inherited the 'skipping' gene…'_

With a sigh, Duri gave up and decided to return to her dorm and have some sleep, since it was already late, but she had decided to pay Fujino a visit to make sure she was settling in okay.

Turning around, she was met by the person she most wished she hadn't. "Yuuki-san…"

Yuuki smiled, "Duri-chan, if you're looking for your sister…she and some other girls left for the city, and I'm actually wondering if-"

"No." Yuuki was cut off by Duri's stern reply.

"What?" Duri walked away from Yuuki, but she followed quickly. "You don't even know what I was going to ask…"

"Whatever you were, my answer is no." replied Duri, not even looking at the red-headed girl who followed her hastily.

Yuuki smirked, "Oh really? Then you _don't _want to go into your room by yourself and you rather me accompany you? Because that's what I was going to…"

Duri halted and turned around with a crimson blush over her face, "Yuuki! Leave. Me. Alone!"

Yuuki laughed, "Sure Duri-chan. For now, but," getting closer, Yuuki finished in a whisper, "You _will_ be mine."

Duri turned around and walked off, _'No need to waste my time with a child like her…'_

-----------------------

"Natsuki…are you done?" Natsuki looked up from her desk when she saw Shizuru smiling widely, "Almost, why?"

"I was wondering if Principal Kruger would do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight," Shizuru offered, as she walked to Natsuki and spinning her around on her chair, sat on her lap.

"What's in it for me besides food?" Natsuki asked with a smirk on her face. Shizuru leaned in closer to Natsuki and replied with hot breath, "I promise you will _lov_e dessert…"

Shizuru stood up from Natsuki's lap, "So, you accept me invitation?"

"Of course," Natsuki looked at the clock, "Actually, it's late already, this work can wait. Everyone should be asleep by now, so how about we leave?"

Shizuru grinned, "I like the sound of that…"

-----------------------

"So how do you think the girls are doing?" Natsuki asked with a worried tone.

"They are fine Natsuki. They are big girls, they will be okay," Shizuru replied as she cut into her dish of salmon.

"But…I'm worried for Fujino specially…she's so young…" Shizuru laughed, "Okay Natsuki, if it makes you feel better and you can't wait for tomorrow, we'll check on them when we get back okay?"

Natsuki relaxed visibly and smiled, "Thanks."

Shizuru just smiled as they kept eating their dinner. A few minutes passed when Shizuru froze and placed her fork down. Facing outside through the window, Shizuru's eye's widened in surprise, "Ara…"

Natsuki immediately noticed Shizuru's expression and turned around to see what had startled Shizuru. Dropping the fork she held in her hand, she watched her daughter Fujino walk along with Ruby and other Garderobe students as she laughed with evident glee.

The sound of chairs scrapping the floor was the only sound heard as Shizuru and Natsuki both bolted from their chairs.

Fujino's laughter ceased within a second when she turned around and saw from the large window wall of the restaurant they were strolling by, her two mothers walk towards them in what seemed pure rage.

Ruby and the others also stopped when they turned to see what had frozen Fujino so suddenly.

'_Shit.' _was the only word that crossed every girl's mind.

They had been caught.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading. Again, if you have any questions, please check my profile or PM me. Also, keep in mind that in this world, the technology for two females to procreate with only the DNA of both mothers, is available.**

**Please tell me what you think and show me some love by reviewing, because that's what encourages me to update faster. **

**Thank you for reading :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for all the support you have all showed to my story. I hope you keep enjoying it :D**

-----------------------

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME or their characters. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**2**

The girls watched in horror as they saw the Principal and the Archmeister walking towards them. They were specially alarmed to see the usually graceful and aplomb Shizuru Viola making her way towards them in what was clearly, pure rage.

"I cannot believe when I am seeing," Shizuru spoke as she calmed herself down enough to speak coherently. "I am very disappointed in all of you, coming out here to the city in the dark without any protection from the dangers that you may encounter."

"And you, Fujino," Fujino cringed at her mother's words being directed specifically towards her, knowing that when Shizuru called her using her full name without a suffix, she was definitely mad.

"What kind of example are you giving your fellow students by showing this type of behavior? Where are you leaving Natsuki and me as parents? Could not even the Principal of Garderobe and Archmeister educate their daughter well enough to keep her in check?" Natsuki looked on to the embarrassed faces of the students as they heard Shizuru's bitter words.

Natsuki herself was surprised that Shizuru was this mad, being as how it was not the first time they had to deal with kids skipping, but of course, she knew that if Fujino was involved, Shizuru's mother instincts went overdrive.

"I…I'm sorry mom…" Fujino managed to say as she not dared look up to her mother's piercing crimson eyes. She turned to look at her mother Natsuki who just looked at her with empathy, knowing that she could not interfere if she didn't want to upset Shizuru any further.

Shizuru looked away when Fujino apologized, knowing that if she wasn't strong and gave up to her daughter's apology easily, Fujino would be the one that could end up hurt in the long run.

Seeing as how Shizuru seemed to be finished, Natsuki decided to speak up. "All of you will be punished severely, and we will talk about that tomorrow. For now, all of you will return to Garderobe, and you better be there in your rooms before we get there and go check on each and every one of you. Tomorrow I will call you all down to my office before the Welcoming Tournament to tell you what you have earned with this little 'outing' of yours."

Fujino looked around hoping and praying to any and all gods above that her mothers had walked here, since she hoped that perhaps by chance they had decided to take a romantic stroll. Unfortunately for all of them, she spotted her mother's vehicle parked across the street from the restaurant. Natsuki noticed her daughter's faltering expression as soon as she spotted the car.

"As you see, we drove here and we will leave immediately after I go back in there to pay, so you better be on your way…" Shizuru turned after Natsuki's words and headed back to the restaurant without further words for the girls. Taking that as their cue, all the girls started sprinting in a mad dash towards Garderobe, knowing that their time was limited, and that they were all in big trouble.

Watching as the girls made their way to Garderobe, Natsuki sighed and returned to the restaurant. By now, Shizuru had already paid the bill and was grabbing her coat. She also grabbed Natsuki's and handed it to her as she stepped out headed to the car. Natsuki followed suit and entered the car. She turned to look at Shizuru's expression, which worried her.

"Shizuru…Are you okay?" Shizuru who had been staring blankly at the dashboard, upon hearing Natsuki's question, turned her head sharply towards Natsuki, "I can't believe you just asked me that," Natsuki was taken back by Shizuru's vitriolic tone. "Do you think that the fact that I just found my daughter out on the city streets after dark, defenseless against any type of danger do you think that I should be okay?" Shizuru asked as tears began to pool around her eyes. Kiyo had given them trouble before, but for some reason, she knew that Kiyo knew better and how to care for herself, while Fujino on the other hand, was too innocent and credulous to know the dangers of the world.

Natsuki noticed the tears that began to flow down Shizuru's cheeks. She quickly moved to grab Shizuru in a hug as the chestnut-haired woman began to cry freely. "Shizuru, it's okay, calm down…" Shizuru could feel Natsuki's hand stroking her back in an attempt to calm her down, which appeared to be working as Shizuru's sobs began to subside.

"It's just that Fujino is so young, and anything could happen to her…" Shizuru began between sobs, "And with all that has happened, with Nagi, and the slave that attacked us and turned many of us into stone, and then Yuuichi…I just don't know what else could happen and take my children away, and having Fujino escaping in the middle of the night does not help…"

Natsuki did not release Shizuru, knowing that by just holding her, it would help Shizuru, "Shizuru, it's okay, nothing bad is going to happen, and if anything does, we will be there to protect them okay?"

Shizuru backed away a small distance from Natsuki to be able to see her face, "Thank you, Natsuki," Natsuki smiled, seeing her wife's face more relaxed. Shizuru closed in the space again as she captured Natsuki's with her own in a fiery kiss.

Getting caught in the moment, Natsuki tried climbing to the passenger's seat atop Shizuru, but her plan backfired when the car's horn started to blare when Natsuki leaned against it. This loud sound caught the attention of those walking by, making them turn to see what was going on in the car.

Shizuru, trying to forget her worries, laughed as Natsuki quickly pulled back to her own seat and straightened her shirt. With a bright-red blush, Natsuki drove away quickly, trying to ignore the amused stares from the people that had seen the bluenette struggle inside the car.

-----------------------

Meanwhile, all the girls that had just been laughing during their night out, were running as fast as they were capable back to Garderobe. Not a single word was said by any of the girls during their sprint, all too mad or embarrassed to even speak.

Fujino was the first one to fall back when her legs began to give up, causing her to stop as she tried hard to catch her breath. Nobody noticed, being too focused on getting back to school, except Ruby, who stopped with Fujino and waited for her.

"Fuji-chan, this is really a work out isn't?" Fujino stared at Ruby dumbfounded, not being able to believe that her best friend was making a joke out of their very serious situation. "What?" Ruby asked, having noticed Fujino's expression.

"Do you think this is funny?" Fujino asked sternly, having regained her breath. "Well, not funny exactly, but we should try to look at the positive side of this," Ruby replied with a smile.

"Which is?" Fujino asked, still upset. "Well, we get to work out, and we get to spend more time together out here…" Ruby replied, earning a blush from Fujino, "I…We should get back before my mothers do, or they will be even more furious than they already are…" Fujino managed to say, quickly turning running off again to prevent Ruby from seeing her blush. _'Damn the Kruger Curse…' _Fujino thought as she sprinted towards Garderobe as Ruby ran to catch up with her.

-----------------------

"Fujino…." Fujino had been seating on the stadium bleachers with Ruby waiting for the welcoming tournament to begin when a familiar voice called her.

"What?" Fujino said turning around to find her sisters hovering above her, annoyed at the looks she received from them. While Duri looked at her with disappointment and worry, Kiyo had a smirk plastered in her face that she was unable to hide.

"I heard that my adorable little sister got caught last night…" Kiyo said amused, trying to hold back her laughter, "and you know what's worst? You got caught my our mothers!!!"

Kiyo doubled over in laughter as she grabbed on to the railing to keep from falling. Fujino's face was now deep red as she tried covering herself with her hands. Ruby, who was sitting beside her, had a similar shade of red.

"Why did you do that?" Duri asked with a hint of anger in her voice. She had been worried for her sister and was really disappointed that she seemed to be following in Kiyo's rebellious footsteps.

Fujino was unable to answer as she looked deep into her sister's deep crimson eyes that were exactly like her mother Shizuru's.

"Duri, _why_ is not the question," Kiyo said as she began to recollect herself as tears had formed on her eyes from the laughing. She was still amazed beyond belief that Fujino would do that. Duri was always the goody-two shoes, and Fujino had followed her example, which was why she was surprised that Fujino would go out during the night. "The question is how stupid could you possibly be to have gotten caught by not one of our mothers, but _both_!" Kiyo finished as her laughter started off again.

"I…I…" Fujino was unable to speak from the embarrassment, since now, a group of students had gather around to see their adored Kiyo-sempai and Duri-sempai having a sisterly talk with Fujino.

"Ignore Kiyo-chan," Duri said as she got Fujino's attention back to her, "I believe it is clear that I am really disappointed in you, and all that I ask is that this does not repeat itself. Our family already has enough problems with a delinquent like Kiyo."

"Hey!" Kiyo said indignantly when she heard her sister accuse her of a delinquent. This of course, was completely ignored by Duri who continued, "Make sure this does not happen again. Our mothers have enough to deal with, you don't need to add to their worries."

Fujino kept her head down as she said, "It won't happen again. I'm sorry."

Kiyo watched as Duri turned around and left without another word. She knew her twin well and knew that it would be better to not bother her for a while. Kiyo knew that it was difficult to upset Duri, and if she indeed was upset, she was able to cover it up perfectly, but when Duri was mad, it was difficult to appease her mood.

"Well, nice going Fujino," Kiyo said as she left following Duri. Fujino felt tears well in her eyes, not only had she hurt her mothers but also her sister. She didn't care much for Kiyo since she knew Kiyo would bother her either way, but seeing Duri mad was a whole different deal.

She and the rest of the students that had been involved in their incident were called to the see Natsuki early in the morning, before the tournament. It had been quite bad, Fujino recalled.

Her mother Shizuru was not in the office since she was out getting the students that would be participating in the tournament ready. Natsuki had called them all in at once and had reprimanded their behavior once more. They were told that they would be in charge of the cleaning of the kitchen after every breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two weeks. Although it was a hard punishment, they were actually glad that it had been the principal that had found them and not Miss Maria, because they all knew what a hell that would've been.

Fujino had been told to stay after her friends had left the office. Natsuki had told her about Shizuru's worries and why she had over reacted the night before. Fujino had begun to cry upon hearing the pain she had inflicted on her mother but Natsuki was able to calm her down and told her that the best way to apologize was to behave. Afterwards, Fujino and the others had gone with the rest of the students to the tournament.

"Fujino-chan, are you okay?" Jayden asked as she and Yasashi came to sit beside her and Ruby. "I guess…." Fujino answered without looking up as her face remained buried in her hands.

"Come on Fuji-chan, you know Kiyo-sempai was only teasing," Ruby began but was interrupted by Fujino, "It is not her I am upset about, but did you see Duri-oneechan? She was….she was mad."

Ruby nodded, knowing what Fujino meant. Of all the time she had know the Kruger family, she had never seen the blue-haired twin mad. Younger, she had once asked her mother Mai why that was, and to this Mai answered, "She is just like her mother Shizuru-san, they are both able to cover up their real emotions…but now that I think about it, Natsuki was the same way, so I guess it's just hereditary." Mai finished with a grin.

"Well, at least it wasn't that bad…" Yasashi said, still embarrassed about the whole thing. The principal had told them that their parents would be notified of their behavior, which knew would upset her mother Mashiro greatly. Krystal on the other hand, had taken the whole thing as a joke and was not embarrassed in the slightest.

"Yea," Jayden chimed in, "Kitchen cleaning duty is not that bad, we can all work together and finish it quickly so the two weeks go by faster," The girls all nodded, even Fujino who was now smiling with her friends.

Farther away from their group, Hana sat along with Krystal and Yuuki, laying back on the bleachers as they waited for the tournament to begin. "Damn it Yuuki, can't you stop looking at Duri-sempai like a hungry dog?" Hana said teasingly, making herself and Krystal laugh.

"Shut up Hana," Yuuki snapped back with a glare towards her friends, "At least I'm not the one being a pedophile hitting on Krystal's younger sister."

Krystal's laughter stopped immediately as she turned to look at Hana who just smiled, "I'm no pedophile, she's just a year my junior."

"I already warned you Hallard, you better keep your gay hands away from my sister," Krystal said with a serious look, which caused both Yuuki and Hana to laugh, "My gay hands? Like yours aren't…and besides, if you want to keep her gay-free, then you better keep her in a glass box so she won't be touched by anyone, because here in Garderobe, she does suffer the risk of being touched by a few," Hana remarked as she continued on laughing. Krystal just sighed as she leaned back on to the bleachers.

"Besides, if I'm correct, which I usually am, aren't you the one trying to defile Yuuki's little sister?" Hana added, which caused Krystal and Yuuki both to snap back up in their respective seats as Yuuki glared at Krystal, "Is that true?"

"Wha-What?!" Krystal asked with a full blush, which answered the question for Yuuki, "You better watch it Krystal, I don't want my sister to get hurt," Yuuki threatened.

"Now this is getting good…" Hana said with a smirk as she watched her friends glaring at each other, _'Good thing I don't have any sisters to worry about' _she though amused.

"Hey Duri, isn't that your stalker Yuuki over there?" Kiyo asked as she looked down at the group of second year Corals where it seemed that two of them seemed to be having a glaring contest while the other one laughed.

"I don't know nor do I care," Duri replied as she leaned down on the cold wall that was behind them, since she and Kiyo were on the very top of the bleachers. "Gosh, chill out, you don't have to be so mean to me, I didn't do anything," Kiyo said as she laid down on the bleacher again, _'I hope she get's over it quick because I don't want to deal with her like this later…' _Kiyo thought with a frown knowing the hassle her sister would make her go through if her mood remained the same.

'_What's taking so long?' _Kiyo asked herself as she closed her eyes, deciding to take a nap since the Tournament seemed to be delayed. As she began to relax, a shadow appeared above her, making her open her eyes to see what was disturbing her slumber.

"Hello sleepy head…" Diana said as she looked down to Kiyo who smirked upon seeing her, "I was wondering when you'd show up," Kiyo said as she sat up to allow Diana to seat beside her.

"Where is Akish-chan?" Kiyo asked, noticing that the two blondes were not together like usual. "She's sitting with some Corals," Diana answered as she leaned in to kiss Kiyo roughly.

"What was that for?" The brunette asked after the kiss, having sensed the force Diana had placed on it. "You asked about Akish-chan but not me? How rude…" Diana said with a pout.

"Well, why would I ask about you when you're here? That would be kind of dumb…" Diana rolled her eyes at her 'girlfriend's' obliviousness, "You are so clueless sometimes, you know…"

Kiyo laughed, "I know, Shizu-kaachan says I get it from my mother Natsuki."

"The principal? I wonder why?" Diana mused, leaning in to kiss Kiyo again. As their kissed began to intensify, Duri cleared her throat.

"Kiyo-chan, please stop giving a show…" Duri said as she motioned for them to see the Corals that were staring at them with blushing faces as they smiled on to the couple.

Diana grinned, "Gomen Duri-chan, we will behave now…" she said as she straightened herself out and looked on to the arena where the tournament seemed to be about to begin.

*****

"_Welcome to Garderobe's Opening Tournament," _Natsuki's voice rang through the stadium as she spoke onto the speakers, _"This year's opening tournament will begin with the scholarship competition. All the contestants have proven to be qualified for the Garderobe Scholarship through other methods such as academic and achievements, and this will test their physical strength to see which one of them is better qualified to enroll in the academy."_

Kiyo quickly turned her attention to her mother's words that signaled the highly anticipated tournament. She was supposed to be getting ready for her own "graceful dance" with Diana, but she had decided to watch from the bleachers and wait until the last minute to get ready. She was able to easily convince Diana to wait with her.

"_This year's five competitors are Hiya Kali, Kanai Sugimoto, Miyoko Ginai, Katsumi Himeya, and Chikane Saki."_

Kiyo's eyes widened as a smile formed in her lips when she saw Chikane coming onto the arena along with the other competitors, whom she didn't pay any attention to. Diana saw Kiyo's reaction from the corner of her eye, _'Is my Kiyo already thinking about another girl?'_

"_The first match will be between Kali-san and Ginai-san."_ Kanai, Katsumi and Chikane stepped in to the waiting area that was right beside the arena after hearing the principal's announcement. Chikane watched intently as the two girls began their match. She saw their movements, taking in every single detail she could. _'I will win. I must win.' _Chikane thought as she sat on the bench apart from the two other girls. They were her competition, so she saw no point in trying to be friendly with those she would defeat. For Chikane, there was no other option but winning. She could not go back.

"Shizuru, where is Kiyo-chan?" Natsuki asked as the shifted her attention from the battle to her wife who sat beside her on the administrative arch. "I thought she was in the preparation chamber…weren't you the one that was going to activate her GEM?" Shizuru replied.

"Me?! I thought you were. She told me you would…" As soon as the words left her mouth, Natsuki realized that she had been tricked one again by her lovely daughter. "I'll go get her after this match…" Shizuru said as she released a sigh and turned her attention back to the match.

Kiyo watched without interest as the two girls fought out for a chance to be in Garderobe. Her focus was centered on the waiting area where she saw the teal-haired girl sitting patiently, awaiting her turn. Not liking the sheepish look on Kiyo's face, Diana spoke up, "Kiyo, don't you think that we should go get ready? I don't think you want either of your mothers coming here to get you over there."

"Huh?" Kiyo said as her attention was called back to Diana, "Oh yea," she said after understanding what Diana had told her. Without another word, she got up from her seat and ran down the bleachers.

Both Diana and Duri were left dumbfounded as they watched the bluenette jog down the bleachers, leaving astonished Corals on her wake. Diana stood up and followed her in a slower manner, stopping to smile seductively at the students that watched her as she made her way after Kiyo.

"Look, it's Kiyo-chan" Shizuru said as she nudged the Principal to look at their daughter who jogged down, but was not directed to the preparation chamber as they had hoped. "Where is she going?" Natsuki asked with confusion.

Chikane's eyes were closed as she meditated for her match when she heard steps on the tile floor running towards her. "Chikane-san!" Kiyo said as she stopped behind her.

The teal haired girl turned to face Kiyo who's face was blushed, "I…I wanted to wish you good luck…" Chikane smiled at the brunettes honest words, causing Kiyo to blush even darker.

"Arigato Kiyo-san, I appreciate it," Chikane replied as she stood from the bleacher to offer Kiyo a bow of respect. From the corner of her eye she was able to see the jealous stares from her competitors glaring at her from the other side of the room, causing her to smirk.

"Oi!" Kiyo said embarrassed that the girl was bowing in respect, "No need to thank me, I am just being sincere when I say that I hope you win the scholarship," she finished, without taking notice of the glares from the girls. This caused Chikane's cheeks to become tainted with a pink blush.

"Kiyo, you are too fast for me…" Diana stopped when she saw Kiyo standing _too_ close to one of the participants with a blush on both of their faces, "Oh, am I interrupting something?" she asked sarcastically as she tried to keep her calm.

Chikane stumbled backwards when she saw the blonde glaring at them. She had not noticed the proximity she had with Kiyo until the blonde came. Kiyo quickly extended her hand to grab Chikane's so she wouldn't fall down. Chikane was thankful but quickly retracted her hand after she had gained her balance once more.

"No, you are not interrupting Diana," Kiyo said as she turned to her girlfriend, glaring back without noticing the dangerous aura that surrounded Diana, "Let's go get ready," Kiyo turned to glance one more time to Chikane, giving her a smile, before turning to Diana and walking out.

Diana gave one last look at Chikane before following Kiyo. Chikane sighed in relief after the pair had left. She ignored the snickers from the other girls as her mind processed what had just occurred.

'_Diana-sempai must be Kiyo-san's girlfriend…and here I was stupidly trying to believe Kiyo-san might've actually been interested in me…stupid, stupid me.'_

"What the hell was that?" Kiyo kept walking as she tried to ignore Diana, "Answer me!" Diana grabbed Kiyo by the shoulder, halting her movement.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kiyo replied annoyed, she really didn't want to argue. "You now perfectly well what I am talking about. Why were you so close to that girl?" Diana asked in anger.

"Diana, you seriously need a new hobby if the distance I have with people worries you." Kiyo remarked as she grabbed Diana's hand and removed it from her shoulder, "So how about we just get ready okay?"

Diana fumed as she followed Kiyo who had began to walk again, "Damn it Kiyo, you better not even be thinking about cheating on me."

Kiyo rolled her eyes, which of course Diana could not see because she was turned from her, _'Cheating on her? Is she kidding me? Does she think I am so naïve to think she's going to play the 'faithful' girlfriend card? As if…' _Kiyo continued ignoring the blonde as she decided she didn't want to wait with the blonde in the chamber. She only knew all the drama Diana would give her.

"Where are you going?" Diana asked as she watched Kiyo entering the elevator without responding. _'Damn it…I better keep my eye out for that Chikane…I can't lose my Kiyo again, I just can't.'_

"Kiyo-chan?" Shizuru asked, causing Natsuki and the other guests who sat in the Administrative Arch watching the tournament to turn. "Are you okay?" Natsuki asked, noticing Kiyo's troubled expression.

"Ahm…yes, I'm sorry for coming here, but I…I wanted to see if I could stay here while my turn comes…" Shizuru smiled as she motioned for her daughter to sit next to her and Natsuki, ignoring the looks of disapproval they received by some of the guest by letting a student joined them, no matter it was their daughter.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Natsuki asked as she leaned closer to her daughter, "Yes mom, I just want a better view." Kiyo responded, fixing her focus on the battle.

"Okay…" Natsuki shrugged as she looked over to Shizuru who smiled at her, giving her a 'we-will-discuss-it-later' look which was quickly understood by the bluenette.

Kiyo ignored the glances as she waited for the battle to be over so that she could see Chikane again. She was bored out of her mind as she leaned on Shizuru's shoulder, closing her eyes and taking a quick nap while the matches progressed, until her eyes snapped open when a Chikane's name was called by Natsuki, signaling her turn for the match.

"Ara, that sure did catch my Kiyo-chan's attention," Shizuru teased, seeing how her daughter moved from her shoulder and sat with her attention focused entirely on the teal-haired girl. _'Ara…am I seeing things? Or is my Kiyo actually interested in that girl?…'_

Kiyo blushed slightly from her mother's tease but did not remove her focus from the match, not wanting to miss a beat from the girl's match. She watched enthralled as the two girls launched at each other when the bell went off.

Chikane dashed towards Katsumi as she evaded a blow from her opponent's staff. Both girls were hovering near each other as Katsumi kept throwing blows at Chikane's robe, which she was able to deflect with her own staff. After a few minutes of being on the defense, Chikane noticed the fatigue that seemed to grow on Katsumi's face, deciding to make her move. She waited for the next blow from Katsumi and when it came, she twisted her own staff to make the other girl's staff become trapped under hers, and in the second that Katsumi took to notice the movement, Chikane pulled both staffs towards her and punched the girl in her stomach, causing her to not only lose all the air from her lungs but also to lose her balance and spiral down to the ground.

Natsuki watched in her screen as the health percentage on Katsumi's robe went down drastically with the blow, making it clear who was the winner.

"_Katsumi Himeya is no longer able to fight, making Saki-san the winner of the Tournament and of the Scholarship. Everyone, please welcome Garderobe's newest student, Chikane Saki."_

The stadium erupted in cheers as all the students joined in to celebrate the new student's victory. Kiyo also joined in as she bolted from her seat to applaud and cheer.

"Kiyo-chan, how about you go prepare for your match? And while you're there, you can congratulate Saki-san," Shizuru said as she leaned to her daughter so that only she would hear her. Kiyo turned to her mother and smiled warmly before she went off.

"Congratulations Chikane-san!" Kiyo exclaimed as she grabbed the teal-haired girl in a tight hug. Chikane accepted the embrace happily as she fell onto Kiyo's arms from exhaustion. Although Katsumi's hits had lacked accuracy, they had been strong enough to cause fatigue onto Chikane.

"Chikane-san, are you okay?" Kiyo asked with concern as the she felt the girl's weight and took her to the nearest bench. "Yes Kiyo-san, just a bit tired is all," Chikane answered as she dematerialized her robe.

"Okay, well then, I have to get ready for my match in like three minutes, so I will see you later okay?" Kiyo said as she stood up.

"Thank you Kiyo-san," Chikane answered with a smile, watching as the brunette walked away quickly.

Seeing Kiyo walking towards her, Diana quickly went back to the chamber after seeing the two girls' interaction from her hiding spot.

"_And Now, We have the Pearl's Gracious Dance,"_ Natsuki announced as her daughter and Diana appeared on the two pillars that were raised up. Screams erupted from all the girls as they cheered for their sempais.

"KIYO-SEMPAI! KIYO-ONEESAMA!" Kiyo smiled onto the crowd that cheered her name enthusiastically. The Pearl's Gracious Dance was a battle that occurred every year on the opening tournament after the scholarship had been won. Its purpose was to show the students, new or not, what they had to strive to become by showing them how graceful and powerful an Otome should be. It usually happened between the first and second Pearls, but since Duri was second Pearl, Natsuki had readily accepted her request to opt out of the fight, giving her spot to the number three Pearl, Diana.

"DIANA-ONEESAMA!!!" Diana smiled faintly at her cheers as her gaze was set on Kiyo. This fight was supposed to be friendly, but after what she had seen, she would make sure that Kiyo paid for it. _'And I will take care of that Chikane girl later…' _

Diana smirked as the bell went off. She would show Kiyo that cheating on an Armitage was the last thing she should do. This was going to be as far from a dance than any had seen.

*******

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you liked it :D**

**Sorry for not updating sooner, but if you want this story to be updated sooner, then please review, it really does encourage me :D**

_Next Chapter: Chikane's past is close to being discovered by the person least expected, and she must stop it before it is too late…_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.

Mai-Otome: The Next Generation

_3_

-BLEEEEEEP-

Diana launched herself towards Kiyo as the latter quickly twirled to the side as she evaded the attack. Kiyo had expected the blonde to be mad and to take it out here, but now, Diana seemed even more dangerous.

Kiyo used her staff to keep Diana at distance but was caught by surprise when her girlfriend dropped down to the ground before launching her staff towards Kiyo, hitting her across her back.

"Ouch!" Kiyo was distracted from the hit before she saw Diana standing in front of her, and without time to react, Kiyo was thrown against one of the pillars in the stadium, making a crack against the solid material.

"Kiyo-chan," Shizuru exclaimed with worry as she stood from her chair but was stopped by Natsuki's hand in her shoulder, "Let her be, she can take it." Natsuki said as Shizuru sighed and sat again.

"Hehehehe," Haruka snickered beside Shizuru. She and Yukino had been invited to the event and Haruka refused to miss an event where her daughter could beat the crap out of the Kruger spawn.

Kiyo quickly moved sideways before Diana could get her again with her staff. The fight had moved to the ground since Kiyo's robe had been damaged and no longer allowed her to fly.

"Damn it Diana, chill out!" Kiyo screamed as Diana kept coming at her with her staff. "Chill out? Chill out you say?" Diana replied without stopping her attack. Kiyo kept going backwards to keep her distance as she used her staff for protection until they stood beside the pillar that Diana had been in at the start. Kiyo was unable to attack Diana even once, when suddenly, a loud explosion was heard besides them.

Both Kiyo and Diana looked up to the pillar to see smoke coming out from a crevice, and within seconds, saw the upper half of the pillar coming towards them.

Kiyo did not hesitate before grabbing Diana and rushing to the side to avoid being splattered. Kiyo landed atop of Diana, covering her from the debris that fell upon them, but a piece from the rock pillar fell atop Kiyo's back, making her scream in agony as she rolled off from atop Diana.

"Kiyo-chan!" Shizuru materialized within seconds and flew towards the explosion as Natsuki and Haruka followed quickly. The students were left stunned as the arena was filled with screams.

"Oh God! Kiyo-chan are you okay?!" Shizuru went near her daughter and was horrified to see her bleeding.

Haruka rushed to Diana's side and was relieved to see her daughter had not been wounded. "Shizuru quickly, we need to take her to the infirmary." Natsuki said before carefully grabbing Kiyo and flying off back to the school as Shizuru followed quickly.

Haruka helped Diana up as she watched Kiyo's mothers take her away. Miss Maria quickly took control and ordered that the students be taken back to school and called for the explosion to be investigated.

-----------------------

"Kruger-san, is Kiyo going to be okay?" Diana asked Natsuki when she came out from the infirmary. "Yes, her arm and back were damaged but she should be okay. The nanomachines are really helping her as well."

Diana nodded and went back to sit besides Haruka, who swung her arm over her. "It's okay Diana-chan, she's going to be okay," Diana shook her head at her mother's words, "It's my fault, I was attacking her like crazy. If I hadn't been so aggressive we would've never ended near that pillar and she would've never gotten hurt."

"No Diana-chan, it's not your fault. You were just fighting like you were supposed to okay? We will find out what caused that explosion, but please don't blame yourself." Haruka said as she hugged her daughter who began to cry on her arms.

----------------------

"We found this between the debris." Miss Maria said as she placed a small piece of metal on Natsuki's desk. She had called for an emergency meeting since she suspected it had been a terrorist attack.

"It's them…" Yukino said softly as she took the red emblem from the desk with shaky hands. "What do you mean Yukino-san?" Natsuki asked as she noticed the fear in the President's eyes.

"It's a terrorist group that has been trying to get Yukino to step down from the office," Haruka said with clear rage as she took the emblem. "They call themselves The Oni," Haruka pointed at the emblem that resembled the kanji for devil or ghost. "This isn't their first attack. There have been several and they always leave this pieces to make sure we know who they are."

"Why do they want Yukino-san to step down from the office?" Shizuru asked. "They claim to be the saviors of the people and they want to end with all monarchy and other powers of government, which is why they want Yukino out."

"But the president does not run a monarchy," Mashiro said since she too was called forth to the meeting, since it involved Windbloom as well. "You're right, but this terrorists say that I've been in office for too long." Yukino replied.

"But it's not Yukino's fault, every time she wants to step down to give another candidate the power, the people revolt against the new leader and ask for Yukino to come back. It isn't her fault that she's such a good leader that the people don't want to let her go," Haruka added since it had happened several times. When Yukino had given birth to Hinata, she had decided to resign, but when the new president took over, it was so bad that the people begged her to come back and kicked out the other leader. The people of Aries were so pleased with Yukino's leadership and the prosperity it had brought to Aries that they didn't want to lose her.

"This is yet another warning from them then, what are we going to do?" Nao asked.

"This is a very serious matter since now they have taken it to the new level of attacking not only a new country, but also Garderobe. We need to take serious measures." Natsuki said as she stood up from her desk. "Thanks to them my daughter has been injured, and I will not forgive that."

Shizuru held her wife's hand as she realized Natsuki's anger was rising. "Please forgive me, this is all my fault since it is me who they want and because of this your daughter has been affected. Please do forgive me," Yukino said as she stepped forward to Natsuki and bowed down in respect, surprising everyone.

"No Yukino-san, it is not your fault. You have no control over those criminals." Shizuru said as she hugged the president when she noticed tears in her eyes.

"Thank you." Yukino said softly. Everyone in the room where shocked to see the president cry. Haruka stepped forward to Yukino. "I think the best thing right now will be for us to take Diana, at least for some time while the heat of what happened passes."

"What about Diana-chan's studies?" Shizuru asked Haruka, "We can talk about that later. Right now I don't want my daughter to be in danger or to be a danger to others. Her presence her puts the whole school in danger of another terrorist attack."

"I also think it is for the best Haruka." Natsuki said before turning around to her desk. "You take Diana and I will deal with the rest. I can have a teacher go to Aries so that she can continue with the studies without lagging behind."

"Okay, we will be leaving now then." Haruka and Yukino left to get Diana as everyone else began to leave. "Mashiro-san, can I have a word with you please?" Natsuki asked before the queen left. "Of course, Mashiro replied. "Do you need me? Cause I really want to go see the girls." Arika asked as she went towards the door, "Go on Meister Arika," Natsuki answered which caused Arika to smile brightly before leaving the room.

----------------------

"Fuji-chan, please stop crying, your mom already told you she would get okay, so stop crying please." Ruby said as Fujino cried in her arms. She had been like that since the accident and had been waiting outside of the infirmary with her.

"I…know…but…what if…she…had died?!" Fujino said between sobs. Ruby just held her tightly as the raven-haired girl continued to cry.

"Fujino," Fujino raised her head to see Duri coming out from the room, "Go back to your dorm with Ruby. Shizu-kaachan already told you she would be okay, so stop crying and get back to the dorm."

Fujino frowned and took Ruby's hand as they quickly ran to their dorm. Duri watched them leave before going back inside to watch over Kiyo who slept soundly after the nurse gave her pain medicine. As she watched her stubborn sister breathing rhythmically, tears began to flow down her cheeks. She was usually poised and hid her feelings from others, but only her sister knew the real her. Now, in the loneliness of the room, as her sister slept, she could put down her defenses.

'_I was so close to losing you Kiyo, What if you had died? What if I lost you?' _Tears now flowed freely from the blue haired girl as she buried her face in her hands. She had always been with her sister, and no matter if they sometimes fought and had disagreements, Kiyo was her sister, her twin, and if she were to lose her, she would lose herself.

The door opened slowly as Yuuki went inside carefully and was shocked when she saw Duri crying on the chair softly. She could hear the faint sobs but could not see the girl's face. She walked closer to her, carefully as to not startle Duri, and turned to see Kiyo sleeping on the bed with a cast on her arm. She had a few other bandages for other minor scratches, but she seemed okay.

"Duri-chan…" Duri snapped her head to Yuuki and bolted from her chair when she saw the red-head so close to her. "What are you doing here?" Duri asked angrily as she tried to wipe the tears from her face and regain her composure. Yuuki was not surprised by the tone since she had just surprised the always-calm-and-not-worried Duri crying. Without thinking, Yuuki stepped forward to the bluenette and grabbed her in a hug. Duri was shocked by the bold move, but this time, instead of pushing her away, Duri felt her walls crumble down again as she accepted the embrace and began to cry on Yuuki's shoulder.

----------------------

"Girls!" Krystal and Yasashi both turned around when they heard their mother Arika calling them. They stopped and waited for her.

"Mama!" both girls said as they hugged their mother. "How are my two little babies doing?" Arika asked, causing a pink blush to blazon the girls. "What? Aren't you two my babies?" Arika teased.

"Of course mama," Krystal said as she hugged her again. "Where's mom?" Yasashi asked noting that Mashiro was not there.

"Talking with Principal Kruger, boring stuff probably." Arika replied. "Is it about what happened today?" Krystal asked, since it had been a few hours since the incident, but the whole student body remained without knowledge of what had happened.

"Probably. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but it was a terrorist attack against President Chrysant, and since Diana is her daughter, she was targeted. So now Meister Armitage has decided that they will take Diana back to Aries for the time being to keep everyone safe." Arika explained.

"I see," Krystal mused, "It makes sense I guess. Too bad that Kiyo-sempai was the one that got hurt."

"It was brave of her to protect Diana-sempai though, I think she's a hero," Yasashi said, remembering the heroic moment when Kiyo saved Diana.

"That's true." Arika agreed, "but well, since it seems school isn't going to go like planned for today, do you girls wanna go with this old woman to get ice cream?"

Yasashi laughed as Krystal rolled her eyes, "Mama, you know I hate it when you say that. You are not old."

Arika pouted, "But look at this ugly face, you will one day be like this as well," she said as she pulled her face downward making weird faces.

"Mama!" Yasashi exclaimed, removing Arika's hands from her face, "You aren't old, and even if you were, you'd still be pretty."

"And, thanks to the nanomachines we will remain as beautiful as you." Krystal added before grabbing her mother's hand and pulling her and Yasashi to get ice cream.

Arika could not help from laughing. She loved teasing her children whenever possible and she knew that even though they acted like they didn't like it, her daughters loved it.

----------------------

"So then that is the plan," Natsuki said as she rose from her chair as Mashiro also stood, "I am glad we can count with your support in this matter."

"Of course, not only because this is my country, but because my two biggest treasures are here, I need to make sure that it is safe for them as well." Mashiro said. She would without a doubt help Garderobe. Her wife had attended here and now also her two daughters, and she would not let them down.

Mashiro excused herself and left. _'Now where can my girls possibly be?'_

Natsuki sighed as she closed the door behind Mashiro. "Well, at least that part of the issue is solved." Shizuru said as Natsuki came to sit beside her in the couch, laying her head in the brunette's lap as Shizuru stroked her hair, something that always helped calm Natsuki's nerves.

"I guess so, but I'm still worried for Kiyo." Natsuki said. "I know love, so am I , but let's be glad she's okay, besides we have to be proud that she was so brave to protect Diana-chan." Shizuru replied.

"Uhu," Natsuki said softly as she turned so that she was facing Shizuru's abdomen. "I love you Shizuru, thank you for being with me."

Shizuru smiled, "I love you too Natsuki, and I will always be with you."

----------------------

_Knock-Knock-Knock_

Duri stood up from her seat next to Yuuki to open the door, "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to see how Kiyo-san was doing," Chikane said. Duri nodded and moved to the side to grant the girl access. "She is still sleeping because she was medicated, but she will fine." Duri said as she motioned Yuuki to come towards her, "I will be back, please watch her for me for a few minutes."

"Okay," Chikane replied as she went towards the bed. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Kiyo. She had been in the prep room of the arena when the accident had happened, and was not able to come see her until now, seeing as how her girlfriend would probably want to be there with her, but Chikane had changed her mind when she saw Diana leaving with her parents.

"Kiyo-san," Chikane said softly as she traced the brunette's sleeping face. _'You're so beautiful and so brave. You must really love Diana-sempai a lot to have put yourself in danger for her sake…_' A frown formed in Chikane's face at the thought of Diana. She quickly removed her hand away from Kiyo's face. _'What am I doing? Kiyo-san has a girlfriend. Chikane, you need to get a hold of yourself.'_

"Chikane-san…" Kiyo opened her eyes slowly and smiled when she saw the pink garnet eyes staring back at her. "Kiyo-san, I'm sorry, I-" Chikane was stopped when Kiyo held a finger to her lips, causing shivers to run down her spine as the warm finger touched her.

"Thank you for coming," Kiyo said smiling. The moment was interrupted when the door opened and Natsuki and Shizuru walked in.

Kiyo quickly retracted her finger but she the blush in Chikane's face did not go unnoticed by Shizuru. "Kiyo-chan, you seem to be well accompanied," Her crimson eyed mother teased, making Kiyo blush.

"What a coincidence seeing you here Chikane-san, I wanted to congratulate you personally and I needed to show you to your new dorm." Natsuki said as she stepped to the other side of the bed.

"Thank you," Chikane said with a bow, "I will wait for you outside then, excuse me."

Chikane left the room and sat on the waiting room and found Duri sitting there as well. Yuuki had already left. "Congratulations Chikane-san, your match today was outstanding. Too bad the celebrations did not go as expected since as you can see, my sister is a small predicament."

Chikane smiled, "Arigato Duri-sempai. I really hope that Kiyo-san is able to recuperate soon."

"So do I, and it will be much better now that Diana is gone." This statement by Duri caught Chikane's attention. "May I ask why? Aren't they a couple?"

Duri laughed, "A couple? No, although they like to claim the title. A couple has mutual love and respect for one another, while they only have mutual lust, and nothing else."

"Oh," Chikane said softly, she would've never imagined, and recognizing her source, it had to be true. "Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Diana, but her relationship with my sister is really twisted and I hate seeing my sister losing her time with someone that does not really love her, and she doesn't love back.

Chikane was about to speak when Natsuki exited the room, "Oh Duri, I'm glad you're here. Can you please take Chikane-san down to Hallard's room? She is her new roommate."

"Yes." Duri stood from her chair and walked away with Chikane following her. "Classes start tomorrow, if the incident did not change that, so be ready because I will come in the morning to show you your schedule and such."

"Okay," Chikane's heart pumped fast with excitement. Not only did she win the scholarship she dreamed of so much, but also found out that, according to Duri, the relationship between Kiyo and Diana was not a really good one.

"Hallard," Hana stood up from her chair when the blue-haired Kruger twin appeared in her door. "This is your new roommate, Chikane Saki."

"Chikane-san! Congratulations! I saw your fight and I was like WOW! I better stay on your good side if I want to graduate alive," Hana joked.

"Leave that for later Hallard," Duri ordered, "Right now I need you to help Chikane-san to settle down. Tomorrow I will be the one to escort her to her classes understood?"

"Completely, Duri-sempai." Hana replied as she saluted the older girl. Duri smirked, "As I hoped. Well then until tomorrow."

Duri left as Chikane stood in the door nervously. "Come on Chikane-san, I won't bite," Hana said as she grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her inside. "My name is Hana Hallard. The cutest of them all."

Chikane smiled and extended her hand, "Chikane Saki. Without a title." Hana laughed as she shook the girl's hand. "I like your humor. We will be great friends."

There was a knock on the door and when Hana went to get it, Chikane's suitcase was there. "Is this yours?" she asked.

"Oh yes, thank you," Chikane replied as she took the suitcase and set it in her bed as she began to unpack. As she extended a blouse, a small leather notebook fell down, which Chikane did not notice.

It landed opened face down. Hana scooped it up and read the first lines which were written in dark ink with perfect cursive penmanship.

_Today I almost had her. I almost had her but that blonde bitch had to come and ruin it all. Why can't people just stay out of my business? Now, without Mi-'_

Chikane snatched the journal from Hana's hand. "Chikane-san, I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to read it, I just picked it up and it was open and-"

"It's okay," Chikane said without turning around from her bed, trying to remain calm. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Hana nodded, "Yes, of course not, I am really sorry."

Chikane did not say anything else as she finished unpacking. "So…" Hana said trying to get over the backward moment, "Ever been to the city?"

"Not yet." Chikane replied. "We should totally go one of this days then, but last time we went we got caught by the principal and Shizuru-sama. It was pretty wicked. So now we have cleaning duty for like…two weeks I think."

Chikane laughed, "Cleaning duty? That ought to be fun."

"Yea, you wanna help?" Chikane shook her head, "I think I'll take a rain check. Maybe next time you get caught."

Hana stuck her tongue out jokingly, "There will most likely be many next times before the end of the year. After all, we are just getting started."

**A/N: Thank you guys for reading and for all the awesome reviews and all of the love :D**

**I have also uploaded a new story which is a side story to this, but it is composed of one-shots about the childhoods of the main characters of this story (All the awesome chicks). I thought it would be cool to have a collection of those since from my story "BELIEVING" to this one, I basically skipped their childhood and went into their teenage years, so if you are interested in that, go to my profile and check out the one called "The Next Generation: Scrapbook"**

**Again, Thank you all and please remember to REVIEW! The more reviews I get the sooner I update ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well, here is another chapter! If this where a rollercoaster, imagine the cart is just going up and will fall down the edge really soon. Just hang with me :D  


* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**4**

"Hallard…" Hana's eyes snapped open when she heard her name and slightly rose from her bed to see who was interrupting her sleep. "What the-" Hana choked on her words when she realized who was standing in her doorway.

"Du-Duri-sempai…" Chikane smiled timidly as she stood beside Duri. The blue haired pearl had come to show Chikane to her class but had decided to stick around to see when the brown haired coral would finally wake up.

"Hallard, do you realize what time it is?" Duri asked as she glared at the coral. Hana nodded her head and rushed into the bathroom, tripping over her shoes and some books she had left lying beside her bed. When the shower was heard going, Duri decided her job was done.

"Now, Chikane-san, don't think that I am like that all the time, but as a member of the Trias, I believe it is my responsibility to ensure that students are in class on time and follow the rules." Duri said as she turned to Chikane, and at the same time, snickering came behind her.

"Oh yea? Well you couldn't "ensure" that your little sister stayed in school after curfew huh?" Kiyo said with laughter as she appeared behind them. "Kiyo-chan, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in bed?" Duri asked in surprise, concerned over her sister's condition. "Don't worry; I was bored out of my mind in there so I decided to pay you guys a visit." Kiyo said, flashing a smile towards Chikane, who smiled back timidly.

Kiyo began coughing as she held her side where her rib had been fractured. "You need to go back to the infirmary before you get yourself hurt again. The nano-machines are obviously not done repairing," Duri said as she rushed to her sister's side to help her. "Sorry Chikane-san, I need to take Kiyo-chan to the infirmary," Duri said, holding on to a stubborn Kiyo who looked to Chikane apologetically. Duri looked around and smiled when she saw her sister Fujino and Ruby walking down the hall.

"Fuji-chan!" Fujino turned when she heard Duri's voice calling her. She hurried over when she saw her sister Kiyo was leaning against Duri for support. "Kiyo-neechan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I guess I overdid it a bit," Kiyo said as she held onto Duri. "I need you to take Chikane-san to her class please," Duri said, turning to Chikane, "This is my little sister, Fujino, she will take you okay?"

Chikane and Fujino both nodded, "No problem Duri-neechan, what's her first class?" Fujino asked as she eyed the girl. _'Wow, her eyes are just like Yasashi-chan's pink hair!'_

"She's a second year Coral so she is in Nao-sensei's class in the morning." Duri said before walking off with Kiyo. Fujino watched as the two twins left. "Well, let's go." Fujino walked away towards Ruby who had been waiting for her. "Look Ruby-chan, this is Chikane-sempai, the new student that won yesterday." Fujino said with a smile as she turned so that Ruby could see the teal-haired girl.

"Hey, pleasure to meet you," Ruby greeted with a smile, "I'm Ruby."

"Nice to meet you both." Chikane replied. After their introduction they began walking towards Chikane's class.

* * *

"Yohko-san, it's a pleasure to see you again!" Shizuru greeted the dark-haired woman with a hug. "It's good to see you too Shizuru-san," Yohko said with a smile.

"Thank you for coming so promptly Yohko. It's good to have you back, if only temporarily." Natsuki welcomed the doctor with a hand shake. "Midori, good to see you," Natsuki said, turning to the Aswald leader who stood beside Yohko, grabbing firmly onto the shoulders of a young girl.

"Kruger," Midori acknowledged as she shook Natsuki's hand, and then Shizuru's. "Ryoko-chan! How have you grown!" Shizuru said as she hugged the young light-haired girl. Ryoko blushed almost instantly, making her mother Yohko laugh. "See? She might've inherited Midori's rough exterior, but she is just a softy on the inside." Ryoko huffed and looked away at her mother's embarrassing comment.

"Midori, should I assume that you will be staying here as well?" Natsuki asked, but Midori shook her head, "No, I am needed in Aswald, I just came to make sure that Yohko and my daughter made it safely."

Yohko smiled and hugged Midori, "So caring as always," Midori blushed the same tint that Ryoko had before. "Well, there is no doubt she is your daughter," Shizuru mused, seeing the similarities in both Midori and Ryoko, both having the same shade of hair color, but Ryoko had Yohko's violet eyes.

"The same can be said about your daughter Kiyo, Viola. That trouble maker can surely be linked to you," Midori said with a smirk, remembering the last time she saw the girl had been a few years back when Natsuki went to a meeting with Midori and had brought her daughters along.

"I will take that as a compliment Midori." Shizuru said with a smile, causing Natsuki to smirk. "Well, Yohko, I want to sincerely thank you for coming in such short notice. We can go over the details later, right now how about you guys get settled? Now, will Ryoko-chan be enrolling in the academy?" Natsuki asked.

"No," Midori replied, "In Aswald we have a different education system, and while she is here, Yohko will tutor her privately."

"Alright then, let's go to your quarters and then we can go to the lab." Yohko nodded and followed Natsuki as she led them to their room. _'It's so good to be back…' _Yohko thought as she walked down the hall, pleased to be back to the place that had been her home for many years. After she had married Midori, she had gone back to Aswald and had raised their daughter Ryoko there, and although she loved Aswald, it being her birthplace, she had missed Garderobe.

* * *

"So…" Krystal said with a smirk as she elbowed Yuuki, "I heard that you were seen yesterday outside the infirmary sitting quite comfortable with Duri-sempai…"

"Who told you that?" Yuuki asked as her cheeks took a red blush. "So it's true!" Krystal said as she poked Yuuki's blushing cheek, "So did she finally give in to your stalker romance?"

"I'm not a stalker, and besides, I don't know, I think I got her in a moment when she was vulnerable, so I don't know if she actually realized it…" Yuuki said as she leaned down to stretch when her mom came near them.

"Where is the third member of the three musketeers?" Nao asked, noticing that Hana had yet to arrive. "Probably slept in, we haven't seen her," Yuuki answered without looking up. Nao walked away when she noticed Fujino and Ruby coming towards the field with a third student.

"Look, look, look," Yuuki said, poking Krystal's side so she would look up, "That's the new student that won yesterday."

"Oh, she's in our class?" Krystal asked as she noticed Fujino was introducing the teal-haired student to Nao. "She must be a second year like us," Yuuki said as she eyed the girl, "and she is not bad at all…"

Krystal smirked, "Aw, maybe she'll be the one to win Duri-sempai's heart…"

"Oh screw off Krystal," Yuuki said as she turned to punch the brunette, "Not in a million years will that happen."

"Ouch, you just hating cause she's hotter than you…" Krystal remarked with a laugh until she received another punch on her arm, "Damn don't hit me!"

The two girls were about to begin a punching brawl when a sudden giggle came behind them. Both girls turned to see Hana crawling away from a bush with leaves stuck to her dark-brown hair.

"Hana, my mom is going to kill you if she sees you like that," Yuuki said as she helped her friend up as Krystal came to remove the leaves from her hair. "This is why you need to wake up earlier," Hana rolled her eyes at Krystal's motherly-like comment. "Whatever…hey isn't that Chikane-san?" Both Yuuki and Krystal turned to where Hana was pointing. "Yea stop pointing," Yuuki said as she slapped Hana's hand down.

"Auuuuu…" Hana said as she rubbed her hand. "Be careful Hana-chan, Yuuki-chan has rabies this morning because I told her Chikane-san was hotter than her and was going to get Duri-sempai before her…" Krystal said smirking evilly at the red-head who glared at her.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I have seen Duri-sempai a lot with Chikane-san…they seem to be hitting it off real good…" Yuuki punched both of them, "Shut up you two, I have been waiting years for Duri-chan to like me, and I will not give her up to some new green-haired chick."

"It's actually teal, Yuuki-chan, and you better stop hitting those girls before they gang up on you and I won't be able to protect you." Yuuki spun around to see her mother Nao standing beside Chikane who looked at her curiously.

"So-sorry…" Yuuki said, looking away embarrassed. "And you," Nao said looking to Hana, "Since you got extra beauty sleep today, you won't mind to lead the class for five extra laps huh?"

The whole class grunted and glared at Hana who just nodded with a frown. "Before you start your laps," Nao said, speaking to her whole class, "This is the new student, Chikane Saki. I expect you to make this a welcoming environment and show her what Otomes are supposed to be, and that doesn't include the yuri part of it okay?"

"Hai!" The whole class replied, trying to muffle their giggles from the teacher's comment. "You can sit the five extra laps out since you're new," Nao said to Chikane and turned to her class, "The rest of you ladies better start soon before I give you five extra."

All the girls began running quickly, knowing that Nao-sensei always lived up to her threats.

* * *

"Kiyo-chan…" Shizuru said with a smile when she and Natsuki entered the room. Kiyo turned to them with a smile, "Ohayo Natsu-kaachan," Kiyo said, turning to her bluenette mother since she hadn't see her that morning yet, only Shizuru who had brought breakfast for her earlier.

"Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but Yohko arrived this morning and I had to take her to the lab," Natsuki explained as she came close to caress her daughter's hand, "but I'm glad to hear you are feeling better."

"Yea, but why is Yohko-san here?" Kiyo asked, intrigued when both Shizuru and Natsuki shared a worried look. "Listen Kiyo-chan. We aren't supposed to disclose this information to students, but you are my daughter and I know you can handle it," Natsuki said as she looked at her daughter seriously.

"The accident that wounded you was not an accident but a terrorist attack against President Chrystant." Kiyo gasped in shock. Nobody had heard of terrorists attacking since the Yuuichi incident. Shizuru stroked Kiyo's hair tenderly, "Don't worry; we are taking care of everything so that it doesn't happen again."

"Where is Diana?" Kiyo asked with fear in her voice. "Her parents decided to take her to Aries for a time while we control the situation. It is for the best," Natsuki replied, seeing her daughter's emerald eyes had begun to tear up.

"Ssh…it's okay…" Shizuru said as she hugged her daughter and rubbed her back tenderly, trying to calm her down. "Th-they wanted to ki-kill her…" Kiyo muttered between tears. Diana could be a bitter person at times, but over everything else, she was her best friend.

Natsuki frowned and joined Shizuru as they both hugged their daughter, "You trust me right?" Natsuki asked, getting Kiyo to look up to her and nod, "Then trust me when I say that everything will be okay."

Kiyo smiled slightly and hugged both of her mothers tightly.

* * *

"Wow, I feel sorry for Chikane-san." Hana commented as she leaned against a counter in the kitchen. It was lunch time and they had kitchen duty as punishment. Krystal came beside her and smirked when she saw Duri sitting with Chikane and some other students while Yuuki was sitting away from them with Akish and others.

"Same here. I wonder if she feels the negative energy being sent by Yuuki-chan's glare." Krystal remarked as she wiped the counter clean. "Yuuki-sempai looks pretty mad." Yasashi commented as she joined them with Jayden. "It's because Duri-sempai is paying attention to Chikane-san. Yuuki-neechan has yet to give up on Duri-sempai." Jayden said with a grin as she watched her older sister.

"She has always tried ever since we were kids, and she has yet to give up." Fujino said as Ruby nodded beside her. It was a well know fact that Yuuki had been in love with Duri ever since their childhood.

"Fujino, I was wondering," Hana said as she inched closer to the dark-haired coral, "Why is Duri-sempai always giving Yuuki the cold shoulder?"

"Who knows," Fujino replied with a shrug of her shoulders, "We don't usually talk about that kind of stuff."

"Hey, maybe she's straight." Ruby said, earning weird looks from her friends. All the girls shared knowing looks before breaking into laughter.

"Duri-sempai? Straight?!" Krystal said as she doubled over in laughter. Tears formed in the girl's eyes from their laughter. "If she where straight she would've attended some other school, not "Yuri Garderobe"!" Hana said as she held herself upright by the counter.

"Yea, like Diana-sempai's younger sister, she went to some other academy with Xavier-kun." Ruby said. Fujino nodded her head, "Yea, Hinata-chan didn't want to come here with Diana-sempai."

"Let's see," Hana said as she held her hand up to begin counting, "The only students who came here that I know were straight are…Akane-san…and…and…" Hana began to laugh again as she held up her index finger. "See?!" She said as they continued laughing.

"Yuuki-chan, seems like they are having fun. Why aren't you with them? If they get in trouble you're usually involved as well." Akish said as she tried to get Yuuki's attention away from the new student and the blue-haired twin.

"I didn't skip with them." Yuuki replied as she noticed her friends laughing in the kitchen as they occasionally looked to where Duri was sitting.

"Oh," Akish said as she turned to one of her friends. "Seems like Yuuki-chan doesn't like Duri-chan sitting with Chikane-san."

"Yea," the coral replied, "you know her whole deal with Duri-sempai."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Yuuki asked after hearing their supposed "private" conversation. "You obviously don't know the whole "deal" as you call it!" Yuuki said as she stormed off the lunch room. Duri frowned as she saw the red-head leave.

"Yuuki-chan seems pretty upset. I wonder what happened." Duri commented as she finished her meal. "I need to go see Kiyo-chan. Excuse me." Duri sat up and took her tray to the kitchen where the girls were looking at her with funny looks as they tried to keep from laughing.

"Is something wrong?" Duri asked, but left after receiving head shakes that told her nothing was wrong.

"Where the hell did Yuuki go?" Hana asked when Duri left. "I'm going to ask Akish." Krystal said before going to the blonde pearl who was left stunned after Yuuki's outburst.

"Akish-sempai, what happened?" Krystal asked. "I don't know. Saku-chan just said that Yuuki had a deal or something with Duri-chan and she heard her and just blew up." Akish explained.

Krystal nodded and reported back to the crew. "Wow, Yuuki really is taking this hard. I've never truly seen her pissed off like that." Hana said as Jayden nodded her head, "Yea, I hardly ever see her like that."

The girls sighed, deciding to leave the red-head alone to cool off.

* * *

"So where exactly did you get this new system?" Yohko asked Natsuki as she looked through the new security system that was going to be installed.

"A private company made this. It is supposedly the best of its kind." Natsuki answered, not being able to remove her gaze from Irina's glowing face. After graduation, Irina had decided to work full-time in the lab, and after Yohko got pregnant with Ryoko she had taken over the entire department.

"I see. Well it is definitely the best I've seen, but for some reason, I can't shake away a weird feeling about this." Yohko said. "The system is secure, but it seems to run on a network that can be easily hacked with the proper code."

"Don't worry Yohko, the company is trustworthy. They are too established to risk something like that." Natsuki reassured the scientist.

"And I already checked it for other problems and it is all clear." Irina added, still fazed to be able to see her old tutor once again. Yohko had been called to help install the new system since it was too complex even for Irina.

"I shall take your word for it Natsuki." Yohko said as she began working on the mainframe. Natsuki left the lab and headed for her office where she found a pleasant surprise waiting for her.

"Hallard!" Natsuki greeted when she entered her office and found Chie sitting across from Shizuru, who as always, had a cup of tea in her hands.

"Kruger!" Chie said as she rose to hug the principal. Over the years they had gotten closer and developed a friendship. "What brings you here Chie? I wasn't expecting you until next week" Natsuki asked as she took a seat next to Shizuru.

"Well, Haruka-san sent me to tell you that the protection of the Aries army has been extended to you and that, although we hope it won't be needed, we will be here in any case of emergency." Chie said.

Shizuru smiled, "That is great to know. We as well hope that it is not necessary, but I am sure Natsuki concedes with me when I say that we are most thankful."

Natsuki nodded, "I just hope that we can be prepared for anything. Yohko is already installing the new system and will be staying with us for a while as we update new systems and add new technologies."

"Yohko-san is here? I must go see her before I leave," Chie said smiling. Natsuki rose from her seat and went behind her desk. "Chie. There is something I need to ask of you."

"Must certainly." Chie replied. Natsuki walked back and sat across from Chie as she placed an envelope on the coffee table. "Open it."

Chie nodded, taking the envelope and opening it carefully to find several news paper articles and pictures along with different documents. Chie quickly scanned through them to find one thing in common.

"What is it you need me to do with this?" Chie asked confused. "I know Haruka is taking care of this, but I need to make sure they are completely taken care of. The Oni have not only attacked my school, but my daughter. I can't allow that." Natsuki said with an eerie calmness about her.

"This is a governmental matter though; I can't interfere without orders from my commander." Chie said with fear of what Natsuki was planning. "I know, but I ask that you do this Chie. You are the only one capable of helping me. All I want is that you help me and Nao find this group and weed it out. Do it for your daughter as well, since nobody will be safe with them here." Shizuru took a sip of her tea without commenting since she had already talked about the matter with Natsuki, and supported her completely.

"Nao is involved in this? But," Chie was unable to continue when Shizuru decided to speak up. "Chie-san, I know this is a difficult matter for you, but we are hoping that you will help us in this matter. It will be done discreetly so that your position will not be put in jeopardy. It is not our goal to cause trouble, but to solve it."

Natsuki smiled towards Shizuru with a knowing look of thanks. "Shizuru is right. We only want a faster way to get this group, and I truly believe that a well-prepared plan will be more successful than sending an un-prepared army. This is a job that can only be done with strategically force, not numbers."

Chie sighed, knowing they spoke the truth. "Very well. You can count with me."

* * *

Duri walked gracefully down the hall towards the infirmary where Kiyo was resting but stopped when she heard quiet sobs coming from the dorm she had just walked by.

She turned around and could hear the sniffling clearly. _'Ara, it's Krystal and Yuuki's room…' _Duri pondered on what she should do, and although her logic told her to continue walking, she disobeyed her logic and opened the door.

"Yu-Yuuki…" Duri felt a sharp pain in her heart as she saw Yuuki crying at the foot of her bed with her legs pulled towards her.

Yuuki looked up in surprise when she saw the bluenette peering through the door. Duri smiled softly at the red-head as she closed the door behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Yuuki's fist clenched when she heard Duri's question. Her blood boiled at the question and she was unable to keep her self control any longer.

"Is something wrong?! Of course there is!" Yuuki said loudly as she jumped from her bed, making Duri flinch from her bitter tone. "Yuuki…" Duri tried to speak but was unable to when Yuuki interrupted.

"No! All this time you have rejected me! Ever since we were kids I was always trying to find a way for you to like me and to please you but I always failed…always…" Yuuki screamed before collapsing to the ground in sobs. She had held to her own emotions for a long time, but seeing Duri with Chikane in what seemed more than "friendly terms", broke her down.

Duri rushed to Yuuki and held the crying girl in her arms. Yuuki froze when she felt the pair of strong arms around her and Duri's words, "It's okay Yuuki-chan…"

Yuuki tried to pull away from Duri but the bluenette's grip was too strong even for her. Yuuki gave up her struggle as her crying continued. "Wh-why…Why!?"

Duri closed her eyes as tears threatened to spill from her own eyes at the red-head's question. Yuuki felt Duri's grip tighten around her when Duri responded.

"Because I'm scared."

* * *

**A/N: OMG! Cliffhanger! Kind of. LOL. I hope you liked it and I didn't bore you too much. Like I said, this is just getting started, and the story is just beginning to unravel :D**

**Please Review :D They encourage me to update sooner, and you know you want to know what Duri is scared of…right?**

**Thank you for reading :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here it is! Enjoy! **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-HiME/Mai-Otome. I do own my original characters/story.**

**Mai Otome: The Next Generation**

**5**

"Because I'm scared."

Duri answered with a shaky voice. Yuuki, who had just asked her why she had rejected her all this time, was stunned to hear the bluenette's answer, but needed to know more.

"S-scared?" Yuuki asked as she was finally able to get out of Duri's grip that had loosened around her as she began to cry. Yuuki wanted to hug Duri and try to stop her crying, but her anger didn't allow her.

Duri did not respond but instead nodded hear head without looking up to meet Yuuki's piercing emerald orbs. "Look at me!" Yuuki said as she kneeled in front of Duri and grabbed her shoulders. "Look at me damn it!" Yuuki screamed again, unable to recognize herself as the fury took over her.

Yuuki waited as Duri slowly raised her face, her crimson eyes glazed over with tears. "What are you scared of?" Yuuki asked again, this time more calmly as she tried to hold back her anger.

"I'm scared that…that…that you'll leave me." Duri said softly, almost too quiet for Yuuki to hear her, but she did.

Yuuki released Duri's shoulders as her hands fell to her own sides. "Tha-that doesn't make…any sense…" Yuuki said as she felt her anger building up again. _'Is that the excuse she gives me? Is that the best she could do to reject me once more? _

Yuuki's clenched fists were now bleeding as her own nails broke into her skin. Her mind went over every memory she had of the bluenette where she had been rejected, her anger increasing by the second.

"I didn't want to lose you, a-and I thought that if I kept rejecting you, you would at least keep trying, or at least I hoped…" Duri said without looking up, tears still rushing down her face.

"But…why?" Yuuki asked with her jaw clenched. She could not comprehend Duri's words, because to her, they made no sense. Why would she lose her?

Duri looked up as her crimson eyes met Yuuki's emerald orbs, "Because I love you."

Yuuki did not move. Duri decided to continue, it was now or never.

"Ever since we where kids I've loved you, but I have always known that I'm not good enough for you. You are strong, smart, , beautiful, funny, outgoing, and so much more that I am not, and I thought that if I accepted your feelings, you would eventually get tired of me and leave me. If I kept rejecting you, I knew that at least you would be there, waiting for me." Duri confessed, afraid of what Yuuki's reaction would be.

Duri moved closer to Yuuki, who had tears flowing from her eyes again, but made no sound as Duri softly cradled her face, "I'm sorry for hurting you Yuuki. All I wanted was to have you by my side, and for that I was selfish. I didn't think about your own feelings. Please don't hate me."

Yuuki snapped back to reality, "I…I don't believe you…" Yuuki said as she pulled back and ran towards the door but was stopped by Duri who held to her arm. "Please, listen to me," Duri pleaded, but Yuuki kept pulling, "Let go! You are a liar!"

Yuuki pulled away with a strong tug and fled the room. "Yuuki!" Duri ran after her but stopped her chase when she realized it was not going to help. _'If I go, I will just make everything worst…She hates me…Its all my fault…' _Duri gritted her teeth as a feeling of self-hate came over her. She turned to the wall and punched it with all her might, over and over until her knuckles began to bleed. The pain that throbbed through her hand and arm, added to the stress of the situation, forced her to collapse on the floor.

* * *

Kiyo walked through the hall bored out of her mind, hoping to get some fresh air outside when she suddenly saw a red-haired girl running towards her direction. _'That's Yuuki-san…is she…crying?' _Kiyo asked herself, not sure until Yuuki looked up to see who was in her way. Yuuki's tearful eyes met Kiyo's for an instance before Yuuki looked away and kept running.

"Yuuki!" Kiyo heard a scream that came from further down the hall. _'Duri!' _Kiyo ran to where she heard her sister's voice but Duri had already collapsed when she got to her, blood running down her hand and smeared on to her Pearl uniform.

"Duri! Duri!" Kiyo tried to shake her sister up but the bluenette did not answer. Kiyo easily picked her sister up and began running.

* * *

"So…does that mean Natsuki wants to?" Natsuki looked away embarrassed, "I didn't not say that." Shizuru, who was sitting atop Natsuki's lap, "Ara, does that mean Natsuki doesn't want to?"

Natsuki frowned as well when she saw her wife's pout. "Being married to you all this time has not been for nothing Shizuru, I know that's a fake pout" Shizuru smirked, "Ara, Ara, so all this time and Natsuki has yet to learn that her wife always gets what she wants?"

Natsuki smiled, "See, that I know." Shizuru smiled and leaned in to capture Natsuki's lips in a passionate kiss, that was interrupted by loud and impatient knocks on the door. _'Damn it.'_ Natsuki silently growled at the interruption as Shizuru quickly stood up. "Mom! Mom!" Shizuru gasped in surprise when the door swung open without waiting for permission and Kiyo rushed inside with an unconscious Duri in her arms.

"Duri-chan!" Natsuki and Shizuru rushed to the girl as Shizuru quickly took her daughter from Kiyo's arms and placed her on the sofa. "What happened to her?!" Natsuki asked, noticing the blood on Duri's uniform.

"I-I don't know…I found her unconscious on the hallway and rushed her here." Kiyo said, thinking back and remembering how Duri had called Yuuki's name as the red-haired girl ran away. _'Did…did Yuuki do this?' _Kiyo felt anger rising inside of her at the thought of somebody hurting her sister.

"Natsuki, her knuckles," Natsuki turned back to Shizuru and found Shizuru holding Duri's hands carefully. Natsuki did not say anything as she took Duri in her arms, "I'm taking her to the infirmary, call Yohko and tell her to meet us there." Shizuru nodded and tapped her GEM to connect with the lab and deliver the message as she quickly followed behind Natsuki.

"AAH!" Duri bolted upright from the bed from a sharp pain in her arm, but Natsuki held her down. "Duri-chan, it's okay. Calm down." Duri heard her mother's voice, but she looked around frantically. "Where-where am I?" She asked, feeling as if her heart was about to burst from her chest.

"Did you hurt her?" Shizuru asked, her tone slightly dangerous as she looked at Yohko. "No, the shot was to help lower her blood pressure, and since she has a slightly different body composition of nano-machines, her body reacts differently to the medicine, so I needed to use a stronger dose. It might just leave a small bruise." Yohko stated plainly, not being taken back by Shizuru's tone, knowing that it was just motherly instinct.

"Okay." Shizuru said as she took a seat next to Duri as the bluenette laid her head on her lap. All children born to two Otomes were different than other children because their nano-machines where imbedded directly into their genes. This also made them stronger and more agile by nature, because unlike Otomes who were injected with the nano-machines, they had inherited them from their mothers. This was just one of the few things that they had found out about the kids, and many others that where still a mystery, since they were the first generation of "Otome Children."

"Duri, what happened?" Kiyo asked as she moved beside the bed. "Nothing." Duri said before turning on her side so that she wouldn't face her sister. _'Something is definitely wrong.'_ Kiyo thought, knowing that her sister was hiding something. She looked to her mothers for an answer, but they just shrugged since they didn't know anything either. "It's okay Duri-chan, we can talk later okay?" Shizuru said comfortingly as she stroked her daughter's soft hair.

'_Yuuki did this. She must've done something to upset Duri.' _Kiyo did not wait any longer as she exited the room. Walking down the hall, she stopped when she saw a large dent on the wall that had blood smeared on it. _'Damn it!' _Kiyo picked up her speed and ran outside where she saw the red-haired coral sitting underneath a tree.

'_She's lying! She's got to be lying!' _Tears streamed down Yuuki's face as she grabbed a fistful of grass and pulled it from the ground with ease. _'Duri is cruel. All this rejection of many years, and her excuse is that? That she was scared? I don't believe her…she could never love me.' _Yuuki had not believed Duri's words, believing that Duri had only taken pity upon her, and had made up the lies. _'I don't want anybody taking pity on me, much less her…'_ Unaware of what was going on inside with Duri, she turned when she heard her name being called.

"YUUKI!" Kiyo called, getting Yuuki's attention immediately. _'She's crying? Well, I'll make sure she cries some more.' _Kiyo did not know what exactly had happened, all she knew was that Yuuki had caused Duri pain, and that was something she was not willing to forgive.

"Ki-kiyo-chan…" Yuuki looked in fear as the brunette dashed towards her, and with one swift move, picked her up from the uniform's collar. "How could you hurt Duri?!" Kiyo asked with bitterness, "After all the confessions of love you gave her, how dare you hurt her? You liar!"

"I didn't do anything! She's the liar!" Yuuki screamed into Kiyo's face, and kicked the brunette away as she tried to wipe the tears away. Kiyo regained her balance quickly. "Don't call my sister a liar!" Kiyo said as her anger flared, punching Yuuki in her stomach and throwing her against a tree with a crashing sound.

"What was that?!" Natsuki asked as she heard the loud sound. "Principal, I am getting dangerously high energy readings from Yuuki." Irina reported to Natsuki through her GEM. "Where is she?" Natsuki asked. "In the academy's garden. Kiyo seems to be with her." Natsuki turned to Shizuru. "Shizuru, please go see what's going on. There is something wrong with Kiyo and Yuuki."

"Yuuki!" Duri tried to get up fearing her sister would hurt Yuuki, but was once more held down by Natsuki. "No, you stay here."

"What did you do to Duri!?" Kiyo asked with anger as she walked over to Yuuki who managed to get up, her nano-machines working quickly. "I didn't do anything!" Yuuki answered as she threw a punch to Kiyo but missed, by which time Kiyo had punched her on her stomach. "It's your fault that she was hurt! What did you do I asked!" Yuuki tried getting up but Kiyo was already atop her. Yuuki was the number two coral, but that wasn't enough to beat the number one Pearl, leader of the Trias.

"Duri lied to me! She lied to me!" Yuuki screamed to Kiyo as blood ran down her lip. Kiyo, who was about to punch her held back, waiting for the younger girl's explanation. "She said she always rejected me because she was scared, but I don't believe that, and I don't want her pity!"

"And that's why you hurt her!? " Kiyo said as she resumed the beating. Kiyo had completely misunderstood everything. To her, it had seemed like Yuuki had beaten Duri against the wall or something similar to it. Seeing the blood on Duri's uniform reinforced the thought, knowing that Duri would never fight back against Yuuki. She had known that Duri had always felt inferior to the younger girl in more than one way, and had tried to keep her distance from her, fearing that Yuuki would be disappointed in her.

"Look! It's Kiyo-oneesama!" Fujino and the girls heard shrieks from the hall and ran to see the girls that where looking out from the window towards the garden. Fujino's eyes widened in shock as she saw her sister beating up Yuuki. "Yuuki-neechan!" Jayden screamed in horror as she watched her sister being hopelessly beaten up.

"Natsu-kaachan! Let me go!" Duri pleaded as she struggled against Natsuki but was easily kept down. "Stay put Duri. Your mother Shizuru will take care of everything okay?" Duri shook her head, "No! Kiyo will hurt her!" Suddenly, Duri clutched her chest tightly as she felt a fiery burn inside her. "Duri-chan! What's wrong?" Yohko, who had been monitoring Duri's blood pressure worried when it began to rise rapidly. "What's going on Yohko?!" Natsuki asked as she held onto Duri who kept holding on to her burning chest, but her attention turned to see Duri's Pearl GEM. The GEM began to glow as a murky color began to swirl inside it. _'What is that?"_

Shizuru rushed past the students that where looking with amazement at the fight. She stopped at a window and was shocked to see her daughter's actions against Yuuki. She quickly materialized and took a leap out of the window, knowing that every second counted. Kiyo had always been the most aggressive of her daughters, especially when it came to defending her sisters. She recalled when one day in elementary school, Kiyo had been expelled due to her beating up a boy in her class that had made fun of Duri out of bitterness from her rejection to his love confession. Needless to say, Natsuki and Shizuru had been close to a lawsuit, only saved by Shizuru's persuasiveness.

Kiyo suddenly froze in her attack when she felt Yuuki's body radiating an unusual heat. Her eyes widened when she saw the girl's coral GEM shining brightly. She had no time to react when Yuuki's body was surrounded by a flash similar to the one when materializing, except that as far as Kiyo knew, Yuuki had no authorization to materialize her Coral Robe. She gasped when she caught a glimpse of the authorization message from the GEM.

_**Y.Z.W.**_

_**Connected**_

_**D.K.V.**_

_**-------**_

_**ZETA**_

_**Materialise **_

_**Activated**_

Shizuru landed swiftly behind Kiyo just in time to catch her daughter who had been easily pushed off by Yuuki. "Ahhh!" Kiyo screamed as her body hit against her mother's robe. Shizuru helped Kiyo up to her feet as they both watched in awe as Yuuki dashed towards Kiyo in what appeared to be a Meister robe, since it was definitely not the normal coral robe. _'That looks like Nina's Meister robe…' _Shizuru's thoughts raced as she leaped out of Yuuki's way just in time to evade the hit. Yuuki's robe was an exact replica of Nina's meister robe, except the colors were different. Instead, this robe was of a lighter blue color, and it had criss-crossing lines of colors trailing down the arms and legs, alternating from yellow and white. Kiyo felt fear inside of her as her eyes met Yuuki's. The usual bright emerald orbs similar to her own were now dull with a blinding rage. Yuuki had lost control of her senses and all she saw were dark figures that her mind told to destroy.

Shizuru was not sure what was happening, but she was sure of one thing, she had to protect Kiyo. Without a second thought, she stepped in front of Kiyo. By now, Yuuki was already dashing towards them with her element in hand. Yuuki aimed her double-sided blade towards them, but Shizuru stopped it momentarily with her own element, holding it with all her strength, and finding it difficult. _'What's going on? How can she be this powerful?' _Kiyo could not believe that the young girl was making her mother falter against her strength. Shizuru released the elongated chain of her Naginata-like weapon, but was shocked when she realized that slim red chains had protruded from Yuuki's blade and were now encasing Shizuru's element completely.

Yuuki tightened her grip on her blade, pushing down with an even greater force. Her mind was clouded and her body did not respond to her commands, instead moving on its own accord. As she began to push down with a stronger force, she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her, but before she could react, she felt a sting in her neck, and then blacked out.

* * *

"_What exactly happened?" "I don't know…it all happened too fast." "This complicates everything…" "Does it have anything to do with her heredity?" "Yes."_

The voices kept talking around Yuuki as she began to recuperate her senses. After a few seconds, she could recognize the voices being the Headmistress' and others. One voice in particular caught her attention.

"But, she'll be okay right?" Yuuki opened her eyes slowly to see Duri in front of Yohko with a worried look on her. "Yes, we just need to run more tests on her." Yohko responded, not aware that Yuuki had awaken.

Nina, who was sitting on the chair beside Nao, was crying onto the red-head's shoulder. "Yuuki…My baby…I can't believe you did that to her…" Nina muttered onto her wife's shoulder. Nao and Nina had been alerted of what was going on by a student and rushed to the scene just in time to see Yuuki attacking Shizuru. Nao did not waste any time to wonder where her daughter got the robe as she ran behind her and pressed her pressure point so that the girl would black out. Nao sighed, "What? Did you not remember how she was going to kill Shizuru? I don't want the mutt up in my ass because my kid got her wife or something."

Nao gulped when she saw all the glares she received from the occupants of the room. "This is not the best time to joke around spider. If you don't remember, your daughter went berserk and we need to know exactly why." Natsuki said with annoyance. "Right," Nao huffed, "If I remember correctly, I was told that your demon went berserk with Yuuki as well. Who in their right mind beats the heck out of some one?"

Shizuru cleared her throat, "Ladies, let's not get carried away. We have this matter at hand that we need to take care of. If Yohko's suspicions are right, then all of our daughters are in danger of the same thing happening to them."

They all turned their attention towards the bed when they heard Yuuki gasp. "Yuuki!" Nina rushed to her daughter's side and embraced her. "I was so worried Yuuki-chan…" Yuuki began to cry, "Wha-what happened mom…what happened to me?" Yuuki did not remember anything that happened after her materialization. The last she remembered was Kiyo attacking her, yet her body did not have any of the injuries she had expected from the beating. Instead of feeling exhausted, she felt her body full of energy.

Duri watched with impotence as Yuuki broke down completely as she was told what had occurred. Duri decided to stay back, not wanting to upset Yuuki any further. "I'm sorry Duri…" Kiyo said softly when Duri came out from the lab. Kiyo was sitting on the floor as she leaned against the wall. "I don't know what happened to me…I just thought she had hurt you…I couldn't help myself." Kiyo explained, hoping Duri wouldn't walk away.

"You are too impulsive. Ever since we were kids, but we are no longer children, and this is what your actions have caused…" Duri said somberly without looking at her sister. "I caused this? I don't know how she got that robe! I was just trying to protect you!" Kiyo said with tears as she rose up from her sitting position. She was still a little shaken by seeing her mother almost killed by a younger girl.

"That's the problem." Duri said without meeting her sister's eyes, her voice neutral and detached. Kiyo stood motionless, tears rolling down her cheeks as Duri walked away.

* * *

**A/N: !!! I hope you liked it and you didn't get confused. Remember, if you have questions just ask. This is like the turning point of the whole story, now we are going down on our little roller-coaster hahaha. It might seem weird now, but I will clarify the whole robe thing soon. Sorry for my horrible description of Yuuki's new robe, I just suck at describing stuff like that lol. Well, please review :D I will update as soon as I can, and reviews always help motivate me **

**Thanks :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Here it is! My last update of 2009! This year has been so cool because I discovered fanfiction and I became a writer! YAY! So here chapter six of The Next Generation. I hope you enjoy it and prepare for next year, because it's going to get hot! **

**I want to thank my little sister Anita, for reading this over and editing it for mistakes. Arigato Imouto-chan!**

**Translator Notes:**

**Oyasumi: Good Night  
Ohayo: Good Morning **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**6**

_~"Chika-chan, your mom just called and I need to go help her out in the firm, but we will be back by dinner time okay?" Chikane looked up from her desk and nodded, "Okay, tell mom I said hi." The brunette smiled towards her daughter before exiting the room, "Will do. See you later Chika-chan."_

_Chikane waited until she heard her mother's car leaving the driveway before getting up. She hurriedly made her way into her mothers' room. She wasn't allowed in there, but after hearing both of her mothers arguing the night before in their room about some 'diary', she couldn't help it. _

_She had never heard the saying, 'curiosity killed the cat.'_

_Looking through the drawers all around the room, she was about to give up until an idea popped into her head. She ran to her mother's study and kneeled down in front of a drawer that was locked. Taking a pin, she quickly opened it after picking the lock and smiled with accomplishment at what she found._

_The book was small and had a leather covering with two letters imprinted in gold._

_T.M._

_Chikane opened it and began shuffling through it slowly, not wanting to rip the aging pages, but felt her heart stop at what she read. She had come across cut-outs from newspaper, and the contents that Chikane read were something she wasn't expecting._

"_Several students have been identified and have been charged with treason after turning against Garderobe and the Kingdom of Windbloom. The students are as follow: Asuka Bering, Hideko Mirio, Kaoru Gerg, and-"_

_Chikane could not believe her eyes. It just wasn't possible. Her mother wasn't a criminal, she would never turn against anyone, she was just too noble to do that. The newspaper must've been lying, but that wasn't possible being as how that wasn't the only incriminating evidence that was against her mother. The last name on the list was her mother's._

"_Tomoe Marguerite."_

_Eyes glazed with tears, she continued to read the articles and the entries in the diary. This was a different person…this girl who wrote the diary could not possibly be the Tomoe Marguerite that had married Miya Clochette and had given birth to her…it just wasn't possible._

_She noticed one thing throughout the pages. Her mother seemed to have been in love with someone named "Shizuru." The word "Shizuru-oneesama" was spread through out the diary to an almost absurd level. The diary had it all, the fights, the rivalries, the hate, everything. _

_She couldn't take it…She could not face her mother after reading this. _

_She hated her. _

_Chikane felt an immense hate for Tomoe that she had never felt before or ever thought she was capable of. How could her mother have hurt so many people, even her own mother Miya? She felt disgusted in herself for being the daughter of…a monster.~_

Chikane bolted to a sitting position in her bed with a silent cry. She raised her hand to her face and felt the wetness of her tears that stained her face. Her breathing was ragged as she looked around the room hoping that she hadn't awaken Hana, and was relieved when she turned and found Hana sprawled on her bed as she snored lightly without a worry in the world.

'_That dream again? Why does that day have to keep replaying in my dreams? Wasn't it enough I had to live through it once?' _Chikane wondered as she slowly rose from her bed. She was no longer in a mood to sleep as she felt the confinement of the room begin to suffocate her. Making her way quietly, she opened the window and carefully climbed out. She had no problem getting to the top of the building since she was in good shape and her room was in the top floor to begin with.

She walked slowly as she felt the coolness of the concrete in her bare feet and the breeze begin the soothe her. Chikane made her way towards the spot she had visited on previous days when she had the same nightmare, but was surprised when she found someone lying in her spot.

The soft blowing on the wind caused the honey tresses to flow carelessly around the soft face as Kiyo laid in the floor. With her fingers intertwined behind her neck and her legs crossed as her left leg supported her right leg, the girl's emerald eyes were shut off from view as her chest rose and fell rhythmically in peaceful breathing.

Chikane was about to turn around, not wanting to perturb the Pearl's sleep when Kiyo spoke up, "Why don't you sit?" Chikane was startled at the girl's request after having believed she was asleep, and found a pair of emerald eyes looking up to her with mirth.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Kiyo asked when Chikane took a seat beside her. "I could ask the same thing of you, Kiyo-san. It isn't a proper time to be outside of your room. I wonder what kind of example the top Trias is trying to give the rest of us?" Chikane replied teasingly, enjoying the light blush she had elicited from the girl. "Oh my, who would've said that you had a sense of humor?" Kiyo proclaimed with a smile that was returned by Chikane with a laugh.

"To tell you the truth, it is difficult to sleep when you know that the person in the same room as you hates you." Kiyo confessed as she turned to look at the moon that was high above them. Chikane looked confused until she remembered who was Kiyo's roommate, "Duri-san doesn't hate you. She is your sister…"

Kiyo shook her head, "She hasn't spoken to me, and I understand her anger. I went completely psycho against the girl she loves. I hurt her in an indirect way that was probably worst than if I had gone crazy against her." Chikane pulled her legs closer to her as she recalled what had happened that day, or if she guessed the time correctly, the day before. She had been in lunch with the rest of the students when suddenly there was a loud crash in the garden and everyone bolted from their chairs and went to see what was happening. Chikane followed them and saw Kiyo beating Yuuki senseless. The rest of course, was something that had everyone confused even further since Yuuki's robe was something that was never heard of before.

"Even if you did hurt her, she is your sister and will forgive you." Chikane said as she tried to comfort Kiyo. "Do you have any siblings Chikane-san?" Kiyo asked as she turned her gaze towards Chikane. "No, I do not." Chikane answered as she met Kiyo's intense gaze. _'Those eyes…I had never seen such shade of green before, except on the Principal, which is obvious being as how she is her mother. But…Kiyo's eyes seem so full of…emotion and pain…'_

"Well, then you wouldn't understand me." Kiyo said before moving to get up but was held by her wrist. She looked down and found Chikane's pink garnet eyes staring at her pleadingly, yet at the same time angrily. "Perhaps I don't understand what having siblings is, but you can't just leave like that. I am willing to listen, and I know that's what you need."

Kiyo's gaze softened as her heart felt a strange happiness that she hadn't experienced in a long time, but soon turned to anger, "So now you think you're a shrink or something? You don't know what I need. You have no idea." Chikane was taken back by Kiyo's sudden outburst but was not scared, "I'm not a shrink or anything of the sort, I just want to be your friend." The word left her mouth before she could help it. _Friend. _Did she really want to befriend Kiyo? A girl that seemed to enjoy teasing girls and was in some sort of relationship with that arrogant Diana? Did she really want to be friends with a short-tempered girl like Kiyo?

Yes she did.

Kiyo felt her pulse beating fast as the words resounded in her mind over and over again. How could this girl want to be her friend? She hardly knew her, and yet here she was wanting to listen to her problems? Almost every girl in school wanted her, but not as a friend, but as someone to have fun with or just mess around with. But this girl…she could feel that she genuinely wanted her friendship.

"Please forgive me, I didn't mean to snap at you." Kiyo apologized as she once again sat next to Chikane. "Don't worry about it." Chikane replied as she smiled tenderly. She was glad that Kiyo had not left and had decided to stay with her.

"It's just that having Duri mad at me is really messing with my mind. My sister Fujino is important to me too and I love her as much as Duri, but with Duri…it's different. Perhaps because she's my twin, but I feel like a connection to her that I can't quite explain, but what she feels…I feel, and I know I hurt her deeply." Kiyo explained as she felt a tear roll down through her cheek. She was surprised that she had been so open with Chikane when she hadn't even been that open with Diana ever before, no matter how long she had known the blonde.

Chikane carefully brought her hand up to Kiyo's face and wiped the tear away, "Please don't cry…" Kiyo froze when the warm finger-tips touched her. Her heart pounded against her ribcage loudly as she met Chikane's soft gaze. "Thank you Chikane-san." She said in an almost-whisper, but loud enough for Chikane to hear her. Chikane smiled as she removed her hand but Kiyo quickly brought her own hand up to grab Chikane's hand, "Really, thank you for listening to me. I really did need it."

Kiyo held Chikane's hand softly as Chikane blushed at the close contact. "That's what friends are for, ne?" Chikane said and Kiyo nodded, "That's correct. That is indeed what friends are for."

Reluctantly, Kiyo released Chikane's hand, "But tell me Chikane-san, why did you come out here?" Chikane looked away ashamedly, "I…I was having nightmares. But it's okay, it's not the first time, so I'm used to it."

"Are you sure?" Kiyo asked but Chikane shook her head lightly, "Yea, I'm sure. We should head inside before it gets any later or we won't get any sleep." Kiyo nodded and stood up, helping Chikane up as well. "Thank you again for everything." Kiyo said as she brushed off her pajamas.

"Thank you as well for being my company tonight. It helped me clear my mind." Chikane said with a soft smile before walking away. "Oyasumi," Kiyo said before walking the opposite direction towards her room. "Ohayo would be more fitting right now." Chikane said with chuckle before jumping off the terrace to land on the small balcony of her room.

* * *

"Good morning Yuuki." Natsuki greeted as she entered the lab where they had kept the girl for examination. "Ohayo Natsuki-san." Yuuki replied shyly from her bed. Natsuki came beside the girl's bed, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better, and actually…I wanted to apologize for yesterday…" Yuuki responded, but Natsuki looked confused. "Apologize for what?"

"Well, for going all homicidal against Aunt Shizuru and Kiyo." Yuuki replied timidly. After Nao and Nina had told her what had happened, she instantly felt ashamed for her actions, especially about trying to attack her aunt Shizuru.

Natsuki chuckled, "Don't worry about it. There was no real harm done, and if anyone should be apologizing, it's me for my daughter's behavior against you." Yuuki shook her head, "No, no, It really is my fault. I…I had an argument with Duri-chan."

"Well, then you better find a solution to that yourself, but Kiyo shouldn't have attacked you." Natsuki said before Yohko came towards them with a chart in her hand, "Good morning Natsuki. This is her chart."

"Arigato Yohko." Natsuki replied as she looked through the medical chart. "Yohko, I need to speak with you." Yohko nodded as she followed the principal away towards one of the tables that was out of Yuuki's ear reach.

"What is this _'Titan' _thing?" Natsuki asked as she pointed to the chart. Yohko sighed, "Yea, I meant to talk to you about that. We ran some tests on the GEM itself with the system, and it turns out that the founder's system recognizes her GEM as something called '_Titan_.' When materialized, the GEM takes on a different color to symbolize the new materialization."

"What is that? A new GEM type or what?" Natsuki asked impatiently. "It's not a new GEM type as much as a new materialization level, Natsuki. It's similar to the Zwei materialization that Arika Yumemiya posses. It is activated through the DNA code and is stronger than even a meister robe if placed on full power."

"I recommend that we prepare the rest of the girls for this materialization, since it is first activated through a high level of stress like the one Yuuki was going through and it clouds the user's mind if they can't control the power. So unless we want a group of teenage girls going on a murderous rampage through the school, I say you talk to their parents and prepare some type of class that can teach them how to control their powers once it gets to that." Yohko finished and Natsuki handed her the chart back, "Very well. I will also need you to tests all the girls that have Otome mothers to see if they are also able to do this, just in case."

"Understood. I will also release Yuuki this afternoon after I get a few blood samples and I am sure that she is recuperated. The materialization made her weak due to the large amount of energy it requires on the first activation." Yohko said. "Okay, oh, will she be able to materialize whenever she wants to without authorization?" Natsuki asked since she recalled that nobody had given Yuuki authorization to materialize the day before.

"Oh, about that. The Titan Materialization does not work on the server like the other materializations. It seems to take the authorization directly from the person most important to them and get it automatically if they are that person's most important as well. Basically like two lovers would grant mutual authorization. But I designed a small module to stop that as long as they wear this." Yohko said as she pulled out a small case from a drawer. Natsuki took it and opened it to reveal a thin silver bracelet with the school's insignia. "This will stop their materialization?"

"Yes," Yohko responded seeing Natsuki's incredulous look, "As long as they wear it, which they will have to since it can't be taken off, they can't materialize without authorization." Natsuki handed the bracelet back to Yohko, "Okay, I trust you. Make sure you give one of those to all the girls that are capable of this. By the way, who is Yuuki's master?"

"Well, it isn't so much as a master as we see it, but its your daughter Duri Kruger." Yohko responded as she smirked at Natsuki's confused look, "What? My daughter?" Yohko nodded and Natsuki just turned around and left without another word. '_Okay, Okay, Okay. So what? She loves my daughter? Yuuki is in love with my daughter…I knew that…everyone knew that since they were kids…but I had the hope that Duri didn't love her back…I mean…I like Yuuki, she's like a niece to me…but my Duri…MY DURI!? She can't take my little girl away…'_ Natsuki's internal battle continued until she made it to her office.

* * *

"Fuji-chan, what's wrong?" Ruby asked her best friend as they sat in class waiting for their teacher. "It's nothing really…" Fujino answered not wanting to trouble her friend with her own problems.

"No, its not nothing. I know you and I know something is troubling you." Ruby said as she took Fujino's hand tenderly in her own. Fujino blushed as her mind went overdrive, _'Oh! Oh! Oh! She's holding my hand! Maybe she likes me too!…No Fujino, she's just trying to be a good friend, much unlike you since you harbor inappropriate feelings for your friend…Why? Because she's a girl its inappropriate? Where are you living? In the old world or what?…No, it's because she trusts you and all you do is drool over her. What a bad friend…Am not!…Are too!…' _Fujino was not demented and did not have double personalities, she just liked seeing both points of an internal argument by seeing it through two different views…well maybe she was a little crazy but only by choice.

"I-I-" She stuttered, unable to make out any words, when suddenly their friends joined them. "Gah, I get this weird sense of wanting to puke when I see you two flirting with each other," Yasashi teased as she came up behind Fujino. Jayden laughed beside her, "Isn't that right? They have this look on their eyes that they want to take each other down this instant. I wonder what goes on behind closed doors…" Ruby and Fujino both blushed furiously, "We weren't flirting…" Fujino said but Ruby just laughed with them, "Yea? And what if we are? At least we are not in love with each other's older sisters." Now it was Yasashi's and Jayden's turn to blush. Fujino glanced at Ruby and gave her the 'thank-you-for-saving-me' look.

Jayden quickly cleared her throat, "Shut up Ruby, you don't even have an older sister, and I doubt neither Kiyo nor Duri would even pay attention to you." Ruby rolled her eyes, "Like I want them to." Nina came into the class and all the girls quickly dispersed to their respective seats.

"Okay girls, take out a writing utensil. It's test time." Nina said as she began passing out the tests.

* * *

"..Shit!" Natsuki grumbled to herself as laid her head atop her desk. When she had gotten up from bed that morning she had expected Yohko to tell her it was a system glitch or anything else that wasn't even near what she had heard.

'_Titan Materialization…' _This was bad news for Garderobe, since it meant that a new race of Otome that was more powerful than what the treaty allowed, had been born. _'First we have terrorists attacks then we have a new type of materialization that allows my own daughters to beat me in battle…could this possibly be any worst?'_

Shizuru walked into the office to find a distraught Natsuki with her head down on the desk. She had talked to Yohko after Natsuki. "We need to prepare the girls unless we want them to go into a murderous spree around the campus and even the city if they activate their powers. It is what's best for them." Shizuru said as she took a seat across from Natsuki. The Principal sighed, "I know. But you do realize that if the government finds out about this, they can try to take them away from us? Their power levels are way off the charts and you know that there are still some resentment left from the past about Garderobe's power."

"We won't let that happen. Once the girls are prepared, we can have an audience with the council and explain to them that the girls are in complete control of their powers and there is no need for drastic measures to be taken." Shizuru declared calmly. Natsuki's tension abated as she met her wife's crimson eyes, "Thank you Shizuru. You always help me deal with this kind of stuff, I don't know what I'd do without you." Shizuru smiled, "Well, you took care of the Yuna situation quite successfully, and I wasn't with you."

"Yea, but it was because I knew what you'd want me to do. You were here all the time," Natsuki replied as she pointed to her own heart. Shizuru raised herself from the chair and leaned across the desk to kiss Natsuki. "I love you too Natsuki." Shizuru said after pulling back. "Thank you." Natsuki replied smiling.

"Can you please meet with Nao and arrange a new class that will give the girls proper training?" Natsuki asked as she placed the results away. "Of course, Will you be calling Haruka to tell her about this?" Shizuru asked. Natsuki sighed and shook her head, "You know how Haruka is, she will probably freak out, so I was thinking perhaps it would be better if we talk to her face-to-face? I was planning on having a meeting all the parents of the girls so that we can go over the plan of action."

"Ara, that sounds like a splendid idea." Shizuru commented. "Okay then, I will get in contact with them and plan it for this weekend." Natsuki said before Shizuru left to meet with Nao.

* * *

Shizuru walked towards the field where she was sure to find Nao, but stopped in front of Duri and Kiyo's room when she heard some arguing.

"_You can't ignore me forever Duri. Is she actually worth you being mad over me?"_

"_Yes she is. And she isn't the reason why I'm mad at you. You need to learn to stop being so impulsive and grow up already! Do you think that just because you've been sleeping around it makes you an adult or something? Because on the contraire. It makes you a foolish child."_

"_What the hell? Do you think I've been whoring around or something? I thought you knew me better than that."_

"_Well, after what happened, I obviously don't know you as I thought I did."_

Shizuru listened to the argument when suddenly the door opened and Duri's eyes widened in surprise when she found her mother standing outside the door.

"Shi-Shizu-kaachan…" She stuttered as her mother walked into the room. "Sit." She ordered as she motioned towards the bed. Kiyo and Duri quickly did as told when they saw their mother's crimson eyes filled with anger and sadness.

"Just exactly how do you think I feel when I hear my twin daughters arguing and acting as if they hate each other?" Shizuru asked as her face took on a serious look as she stared at her daughter. Kiyo and Duri felt like they burned under their mother's accusing gaze, and they did not dare to speak.

"I know that what happened yesterday was shocking and what Kiyo did was not something to be proud of, but you can't let that come in between you two. We have a small family, just you two, your sister Fujino, your mother Natsuki and me. Do you want a war to break out in our family because of both of your childishness? I expect better from both of you." Shizuru said as she met their gazes. "You Duri-chan, always have proven to be much more mature than your age, yet now you don't want to forgive your sister? Exactly what do you plan to accomplish with that? Enlighten me as to what you hope to get by keeping a rancor against Kiyo?" She asked as she met Duri's crimson eyes, and then turned to Kiyo. "Kiyo-chan, you've always been more rowdy and to a certain level, more wild than either of your sisters, but what you did yesterday was just out of line. I did not get a chance to talk to you yesterday, but allow me to do so now. Although I do not agree with your sister's method of giving you the cold shoulder, I do agree with her when she says that you are too impulsive. I tell you not as an Otome, or as your mother, but as a friend. That insensibility will only give you pain and sadness."

Kiyo felt tears threatening to come out at her mother's words, for she knew it was true. Her throat burned as she wanted to say something but couldn't. "So now, please tell me why you are hurting each other?" Shizuru asked as her own tears threatened to spill. She had never once imagined that being a mother would be this painful even after giving birth. Seeing her two daughters hurt each other was one of the most painful experiences she had ever gone through.

"I…" Duri attempted to speak but was no able to. "I can't force you to apologize to each other, for it would not be meant from your heart and would not count, so all I ask of you two is to think of everything and find it in your heart to forgive each other. You came from Natsuki and Me, and I know that neither she nor I are evil people, so we couldn't possible have given birth to children with ill feelings."

Both Kiyo and Duri nodded before Shizuru left the room. Duri turned to look at her twin after their mother exited the room and found tears in Kiyo's eyes. "Please forgive me Duri…I was so stupid…don't hate me…"

Duri felt her heart contract as her sister cried and begged for her forgiveness. After listening to her mother's words, it all made sense. She shouldn't and couldn't stay mad at Kiyo forever. All she had ever seen in her family was love, and whenever her parents disagreed on something, they never once fought in front of the girls. So if she came from a loving family, from where did those ill emotions come from?

"Kiyo-chan…it's okay." Duri said softly as she hugged her sister. ".Sorry." Kiyo repeated over and over as she cried freely in her sister's arms.

* * *

'_Okay, now it's time to see how the other mothers react. I bet it will be entertaining to see it. Especially Haruka, she'll probably say, "Told you! My daughter is so cool! She's so powerful!" or something dumb like that…I seriously don't know how Yukino deals with her. Then again, I don't know how Shizuru deals with me either.' _Natsuki smiled inwardly at her thoughts as she walked to the conference room where she had called the meeting. She was surprised they had all made it in so short notice, but with their technology, transportation was not a problem.

She quickly walked down the hall but then she saw Shizuru leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. _'Shizuru? What's wrong with her?' _

"Shizuru. Are you okay?" Shizuru snapped her eyes opened when she heard her wife's voice. "I'm okay." Shizuru answered but Natsuki knew better, "What happened?"

"It's Duri and Kiyo. They were arguing." Shizuru answered as she looked away. Natsuki frowned, "Shizuru, you know how they are. They'll be over it in no time."

"Did we do something wrong Natsuki?" Shizuru asked taking Natsuki by surprise, "What do you mean?"

"When they were kids, did we ever teach them to fight and argue with each other?" Shizuru asked once again with a somber tone. "Of course not Shizuru," Natsuki answered as she realized what this was about. Shizuru had always been really sensitive about her daughter's fighting seriously against each other since it rarely ever happened, "They do that because of their nature, but we raised them well. They know that family is the most important thing anyone can have. They'll come around."

Shizuru smiled as she moved towards Natsuki and hugged her, "Thank you Natsuki." Natsuki smiled as she hugged her wife back, "No problem."

* * *

"Thank you for coming." Natsuki said as she entered the meeting room and found Mashiro, Arika, Mai, Chie, Aoi, Haruka, Yukino, Nao, Nina, Sarah, and Mahya. "About time. I was starting to think Shizuru was having lunch before any of us were." Nao said with a sly smirk. "This better be good Kruger. Yukino had to cancel a lot of important meetings for this little get-together of yours." Haruka said as the principal took a seat. "Well, I don't know it it's good, but it is definitely important." Natsuki replied as she ignored Nao's comment.

"Please take this report and read it thoroughly. It is of dire importance that you fully understand what's going on." The bluenette said as she handed out manila folders to each of the women present in the meeting.

A few minutes passed as only the turning of sheets could be heard. Some gasps and confused looks adorned the faces of some of the mothers.

Haruka mirrored Yukino's stunned expression before she burst into laughter. "I knew it! I knew those girls were made for something bigger and better!"

"Will this affect Hinata as well?" Yukino asked with concern. "No, because although she has Otome blood, she does not have a GEM that allows her to project the power into a robe." Natsuki explained before turning to Chie and Aoi, "It is clear that Xavier-kun won't be affected by this whatsoever due to his gender." Chie nodded in understanding, "But what about Hana? How can if affect her if Aoi isn't an Otome?"

"Otome blood is dominant over a normal human female's blood. In a heterosexual relationship with a man, as we all know, the nano-machines are destroyed, but with a female, they remain in place which is what allows Hana to have this ability as well. Aoi was able to give birth to a male because she herself does not have Otome blood, but your genes still passed to him, just not the nano-machines." Natsuki answered the dark-haired Otome.

"Oh wow, Mikoto is going to be so excited when I tell her about this," Mai said as she flipped through the pages. "Where is she anyways?" Nao asked, not too surprised by the report since it was her daughter who had materialized first. "She couldn't come with me because she had to stay in the valley to take care of one of her cats that was going to have kitties. But she told me to tell you guys that she says hi!" Mai said as she waved at them in place of Mikoto. Natsuki rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Now as you can see, The report states that we will be having a class that will prepare them for the materialization so that they can fully control it. Speaking of which…" Natsuki tapped her GEM to connect with Shizuru. "Shizuru, the spider is here in the meeting, so you can talk with her later."

"_Okay." _Shizuru replied before disconnecting the link. "Watch it Mutt." Nao warned as Natsuki ignored her. "Natsuki-san, I have a question," Mashiro spoke up from beside Arika, "As you know, Krystal is the heir to the Windbloom throne, and I only allowed her to attend Garderobe not to become a pledged Otome, but so she could have the skills and such, but with this new development, is there a way to control it?" Arika looked up from the report shortly before going back to it without saying anything.

"Yohko has designed a bracelet that they will wear that will force to them ask for authorization from the system before materializing, so don't worry about that Mashiro-san, Krystal-chan's candidacy for the throne is not affected by this." Natsuki answered before Nao chuckled, "A bracelet? Like that's going to stop them. Can't they take it off?"

"No. It is unbreakable and they will wear it in their wrist like any other piece of jewelry so that it does not arise any suspicions." Natsuki replied, getting tired of Nao's stupid questions. "Yukino-san, I believe that it would be better for Diana-chan to come back to the academy. New security systems have been installed to ensure her and the school's safety." Natsuki said as she turned to the president of Aries.

"I see…" Yukino said softly before turning to Haruka, "Haruka-chan, I believe Natsuki-san is correct. Diana needs that training and she also desires to come back to Garderobe. We can't keep her at home forever." Haruka sighed and nodded, "You're right."

"We will bring her tomorrow then. I trust that she will be safe here." Yukino said as she turned back to the Principal. "Very well." Natsuki responded.

* * *

Duri walked quickly towards her class, not wanting to be late, when she turned a corner and ran into Yuuki.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to-" Duri stopped when she realized Yuuki was staring at her with wide eyes. "Gomen Yuuki. I didn't me-mean to run over you." The bluenette stuttered as she helped the red-head up.

"Duri-chan…" Yuuki opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Duri looked away, _'She still hates me. I better go. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable.'_

Duri turned to leave but froze when a hand came to her shoulder. She turned around and was met with a pair of soft lips against her own.

'_There's no more running away. I can't run away anymore.'_

_

* * *

_

**A/N: There it is! Hope you guys enjoyed it. And sorry for leaving the "cliffhanger" but I just wanted to give you a little taste of what's coming next year :P  
Thanks for reading and please review! I love getting reviews because I love feeling that connection with my dear readers :D and I also update faster!**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! Review and show me some love :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**7**

The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty hallway as a pair of high-heeled feet marched down from it.

Teal hair swayed in rhythm with the woman's hips as she entered a large dimly-lit room. The sounds of voices and repetitious beeping filled the room as women in white uniforms walked around busily. The woman who had just entered the room, dressed in a black business suit strode over to a large desk where many screens and buttons flashed without pattern.

"Oh my, aren't we working hard?" A soft feminine voice said playfully as the woman in black business suit spun the chair and its occupant around and planted a lustful kiss on the seated person's lips.

"Always." The blonde who was seated answered as the taller woman smiled. "I'm glad. Otou-sama wishes to know the progress and whether our little helpers were recruited." The woman in business suit pulled a chair beside the blonde, "Delight me."

"The girls have been recruited to help us. We looked through Garderobe's system and found the most vulnerable ones. After some research, we found that this girls' parents were financially troubled and were more than pleased when we presented our offer. Everything has been settled and they are awaiting orders." The woman spoke quickly as she typed on her computer to bring up the pictures of two girls in pearl uniforms and one in a coral uniform. "Great. Otou-sama will be pleased," The teal-haired woman was interrupted when a short brunette came towards her, "Rika-sama, I am sorry to interrupt but we thought you needed to see something."

Rika smiled and stood up, "Very well." Rika followed the brunette towards a station filled with monitors and a computer. "The principal has just confirmed the event for the Cardai heir that will be held at the school grounds." Rika placed the headphones on and turned on the volume higher as a phone call recording began to play.

"_Yes Akane. We would be more than honored to hold the event here. That way your daughter can meet the students and see if she can pick who her Otome will be."_

"_Thank you so much Natsuki-san. You have no idea how helpful you've been. Kazu-kun wasn't sure if you'd agree on such short notice but I knew I could count on you."_

"_No problem. I have to go now. I will see you later then. Please call Shizuru to go over details."_

"_Will do. Again, thanks so much."_

The phone call ended and Rika took off the headphones. "This is great!" She exclaimed happily as she stood up. "I must inform Otou-sama of this new development. This speeds up the planned procedure." She turned to the blonde she had been talking to earlier, "Mika, please contact the girls and tell them their job must be done today." Mika nodded and turned to her computer while Rika turned to the brunette. "Make sure the server is working as soon as the girls commence the operation. We have to be successful in this, or otherwise everything will be ruined." The brunette nodded as Rika walked out of the room rapidly.

**-------------**

The morning sun rose on the horizon and illuminated the Garderobe grounds as students readily prepared for their morning classes.

"She arrives today correct?" Duri asked as she fixed her soft bluenette mane in a pony-tail. "Yes. This morning." Kiyo replied straightening out her uniform in front of the mirror. Duri turned towards Kiyo, "So what exactly is your deal with her?"

"How is that any of your business?" Kiyo snapped with an attitude not appreciated by Duri, "Two reasons miss genius. One, you are my sister, and two, as annoying as Diana is, she is my friend also and I'd hate for either of you to be hurt." Kiyo walked towards her desk and grabbed a book without meeting her sister's gaze, "Whatever. I'm really not sure what we have. " With that, Kiyo left the room to her morning class.

Duri sighed and sat on her bed, "I know what you mean…" She said to the silent room. The day before, Yuuki had kissed her, and not just a quick 'accidental' kiss, but a full passionate kiss, yet after it, Yuuki seemed surprised and in shock and ran away without a word. Duri had thought about looking for her but decided against it. She hoped that by giving her some space, she'd figure things out. _'I've certainly figured things out.'_ She thought as she stood up and grabbed her books, _'If not everything, but at least one thing I'm certain of._

"Kiyo-chan!" Kiyo spun on her heel upon hearing her mother's voice. "Ohayo Natsu-kaachan." Kiyo greeted as Natsuki walked up to her, "Ohayo Kiyo-chan. I need to ask a favor from you." Kiyo smirked, "Sure, but you'll owe me." Natsuki rolled her eyes, "You are just like your mother. And I'm not talking about myself. But anyways, I need you to come with me to the harbor to pick up Diana."

"Ahm…sure. If I get to miss class for free, it's all good." Kiyo replied as she winked and stuck her tongue out playfully. "How old are you again? Geez. Seriously, you are so much like Shizuru it scares me." Natsuki teased as Kiyo followed her outside towards the limousine where they would pick Diana up. Shizuru was supposed to go with her but last-minute things came up and the brunette had to be replaced by her almost-clone.

"So mom, did you hear about Duri and Yuuki?" Kiyo asked casually as they were driven towards the harbor. This of course, caught Natsuki's attention immediately. "Duri and Yuuki? Wh-what about them?" Natsuki asked nervously, not really wanting to hear what she thought she would hear. Kiyo smirked upon seeing her mother's troubled expression. While unbeknownst to Duri and Yuuki, their kiss had been witnessed by a couple of corals that had been passing through, and lucky for Kiyo, they were part of her fan club and did not hesitate to pass on the news.

Natsuki took a sip of her coffee as Kiyo began to inform her of the news, "Well mom, I _heard_, emphasis on the _heard_,that they were making out on the hallway! And my contacts that saw them said that Yuuki had her hand up in Duri's uniform!" Kiyo began to laugh hysterically as Natsuki's coffee landed across the leather seats of the limousine as her face became tomato-red. "WHAT?!" Natsuki screamed at the top of her lungs, scaring the driver but when he lowered the small window, Kiyo just waved him off and told him to keep driving as her mother slid down her own window to get air. _'That spider's spawn had her hands up in my daughter's uniform!? GAH!!!!' _Natsuki felt like having a heart attack as Kiyo kept laughing. Sure, she had added more than what actually happened, but her mother's reaction was worth it. _'It will end that way either way, so I'm doing Duri a favor by foreseeing the future.' _

Kiyo was finally able to calm down when a more serious matter came to her mind, "Ne Mom, can you tell me more about the Titan Materialization?" Natsuki turned towards Kiyo her breathing began to regulate once more, "What do you want to know?"

Kiyo shrugged, "Everything."

Natsuki smiled, "Of course you would Kiyo." Kiyo stuck her tongue out playfully to her bluenette mother as Natsuki laughed. "Fine, I'll tell you what we know so far since Yohko has not finished running tests on Yuuki. Basically it's a materialization similar to the Zwei that Arika has, except this one is much stronger and works differently than Zwei. The Titan Materialization's power is so strong that it will dominate the mind of the user if they are not strong enough to control it, and cloud the user's senses so that it will only act on instinct, not logic." Kiyo nodded, "Like when Yuuki when berserk."

"Yea, and as in her case thanks to you, it will activate by itself in a situation of extreme stress if the girl does not have control over it yet. That is why we want to train you girls before you activate it so that it won't mess your mind up." Natsuki said as she looked outside and noticed they were nearing the harbor. "And what about the weapons? Yuuki's weapon was something that I had never seen before." Kiyo asked remembering the red-head's weapon. It had been similar to a sword, except that it had energy cables protruding from it as well. "Well, Yohko hasn't been able to find much about that, but she did say that the energy levels that she was able to encounter from the GEM that belonged to the weapons system was not proportional to the Robe's power, which is not normal in any type of GEM." Natsuki answered her daughter's question truthfully as she dug into her pocket for a small device. "Look," She said as she flipped it open and a holographic display appeared. With a few quick movements of her fingers, Natsuki opened a file with several reports from the Titan Materialization. "This is the normal levels of a weapon," Natsuki pointed to a bar graph that showed the energy level, "and this was Yuuki's." Kiyo followed her mother's finger to see the bar had increased significantly, almost to three times larger. Natsuki shut it off and turned to find confused emerald orbs staring back at her, "Kiyo, this is private and can't be made public, but I trust you with this information. What we have found is that the weapon itself has energy levels that matched Yuuki's own energy."

"Like it's connected?" Kiyo asked as they came to a stop in front of the harbor. Natsuki nodded, "Exactly. Connected in a way that weapons are not supposed to be." Natsuki stepped out of the vehicle with Kiyo following close behind as she pondered on her mother's words. _'Not supposed to be? What does that mean?' _

-------------

"Good morning Otou-sama." Rika greeted as two large doors were swung open as she entered a large chamber. The room's walls were filled with bookshelves that reached the ceilings and were overflowing with thousands of books. A fireplace was situated in the end of the room while a desk sat in the center.

Gray hair adorned the man's head and facial features with a short beard and a thick mustache as he spun around in his black leather chair to acknowledge his daughter's presence. "Any good news? Or have you only come here to bother me?"

The man's irritated tone did not bother Rika. She had grown accustomed to feeling like a bother to her father after living with him for all her life. "Good news. The event for Cardai's heir will be taking place soon and our inside helpers have been recruited. We will carry out the first phase this afternoon."

He stood up and walked towards his book shelve to grab a book, "Good." Rika did not wait for any praise or congratulatory words from her father. She had never heard them before, there was no reason to hear them now. "Excuse me." She said as she turned and walked out, but was bumped into by a young man.

"So-sorry Rika-sama, I didn't see you, I-" His apology was interrupted when Rika merely laughed, "Don't worry about it. Just be careful next time okay? It does not surprise me that a man like you would do something as stupid as walk into someone." A shiver ran down the man's spine as Rika straightened out her jacket, "This is just one of the many ways that prove how incompetent men are." She giggled as she walked away, "And some still wonder why I only sleep with women…"

-------------

'_Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. I am such AN IDIOT!'_

Drops of sweat raced down Yuuki's forehead and into her flushed cheeks as she raced down the track for what seemed the hundredth time that morning. Her feet moved in a rhythmic sprint as Yohko took notes. Since she had been the only one to materialize the Titan Materialization so far, she was needed for research on the subject. Yohko had also sent her daughter Ryoko and Irina to the Founder's mausoleum to do some research.

'_I had her. Her lips on mine. The sweet taste of her lips tasting my own. The beating of her heart next to mine. I had it and I ran away! Damn it Yuuki! You are so fucking stupid!' _Yuuki's thoughts kept going back to the day before when she had kissed Duri in the hallway. Although she was in complete bliss from the kiss, and while her heart told her, begged her to continue, her brain screamed for her to run. _'Why? She obviously enjoyed the kiss as much as I did, but why did I run?' _She asked herself as another lap ended and another began. The small receptors that Yohko had placed along Yuuki's arms, chest, and legs kept track of her body's progress. _'What if she thinks I am just a kid acting on a whim? Oh god, what if she doesn't take me seriously?' _Fear began creeping into her thoughts but she quickly shook them away as she made up her mind.

'_We need to talk and settle whatever it is we need to settle. I can't leave it in the air any longer.'_

"Five more laps Yuuki!" Yohko's voice brought Yuuki back from her reverie as she sped up.

-------------

"What is your sister doing?" Yasashi asked Jayden as they looked outside the window and saw Yuuki running laps as Yohko took notes on her laptop sitting on a table and chair that were set up in the field. "Yohko-sensei needed to do more studies on her I think." Jayden replied as she laid her head on the window sill. The breeze of the early morning was a refreshing escape from the heat of the day.

The two girls enjoyed the breeze as they waited for the teacher for their second hour to arrive, when they heard some desks being forcefully shoved. They turned and saw Ruby fuming as she stood before a dark-haired student who had a smirk plastered on her face. Fujino was behind Ruby seemingly holding her back.

"What's going on?" Jayden asked as she and Yasashi came up beside Ruby and Fujino. The dark-haired student, Toaru, smiled maliciously as the two girls joined them. "Oh my, here to help your dikey friends?". Jayden narrowed her eyes as she pushed past Ruby, "You better watch your mouth Toaru before I break it for you." Toaru laughed, "Oh please, you and your dyke squad can't do anything." Ruby tried leaving Fujino's hold but her grip on her shoulder wouldn't let her. "Toaru-san, I won't allow you talk about us like that." Fujino said calmly as she motioned for Yasashi to take hold of Jayden's hand, which she did promptly. "What are you going to do Fujino? Get your girlfriend to protect you?" Toaru's remark was not helpful to Ruby's growing rage, but before she was able to get near Toaru, the teacher entered the room.

"Please be seated." The girls quickly fixed the desk that Ruby had pushed and situated themselves in their respective desks. Toaru kept smirking as Ruby and Jayden glared at the girl. Fujino and Yasashi shared worried looks as they assessed the situation. It was a rare event that Toaru would bother them. While Toaru was not friendly with them, she had never before dared to be so blunt on her dislike towards them.

Fujino leaned towards Ruby's desk that was beside her own, "We'll talk later ne'?" She said with a smile to the fuming orange-head. Ruby turned to meet Fujino's eyes and nodded with a relaxed smile, "Fine."

-------------

"Ano…Ryoko-chan, are you sure you don't mind helping me out?" Irina asked shyly as she turned to the girl next to her as they kneeled in front of a glass case that contained some of the oldest information on Otomes and the Old World.

Ryoko smiled, "Of course I don't mind Irina-san, my mother Yohko always talked about how great of a scientist you were, and I always wished for a chance to see if it was true, and I can now testify it is." Irina blushed causing Ryoko to laugh, "You're so cute when you blush you know."

Irina blushed even darker and tried to clear her throat, "We-well, we should get back to work." Ryoko smiled as the older woman began searching through the files for information on the new materialization. Irina searched through the documents carefully with gloved hands since the documents were centuries old, and any type of direct contact could destroy the precious information. Ryoko sat back on the cold floor as she watched Irina work. No matter what she did to get her mind thinking on other things, she always went back to thinking about the scientist.

Irina could feel the girl's gaze on her back burning through her. She shifted slightly and saw the girl smiling at her. "I thought you were going to help me Ryoko-chan, and sitting there doesn't look like much helping." Ryoko's eyebrows shot up at the scientist' tease, "Did Irina-san just tease me?" Irina blushed and turned back to the case, "I-I guess so…" Irina did not know what to say at the girl's quick come back. She felt her face burn madly and was glad that her back was now to Ryoko. _'How can a girl much younger than me make me blush like a school girl?' _Irina's thoughts were interrupted as gasped at the sudden warmth behind her.

Ryoko smirked as she heard the scientist' sharp intake of oxygen as she came up behind her. Most people would think she was too blunt and forward, but in Aswald, she had been raised believing that life was too short to play around and that when you want something with all your heart, you must go for it. She felt her passion burn as she carefully placed herself behind Irina and moved her hands seductively up and down the older woman's arms. "Ry-Ryoko-" Irina's plead was cut when she quickly snapped her mouth shut to prevent a moan from escaping her. Ryoko's hands had moved extremely close to her needing breasts. "Irina…" Ryoko's voice resounded next to Irina's ear, her hot breath making Irina's excitement grow ten-fold. It had been a long time since she had been with anyone. Her last serious relationship having been over a year back. Ryoko could feel Irina melting into her hold and moved her hand towards the mounds that begged for her touch.

Irina's mind clouded as she arched her back to meet Ryoko's hands on her breasts. A moan that escaped from Irina gave Ryoko the green flag to go all the way. She quickly shifted their positions so that Irina was lying on her back with Ryoko straddling her. Ryoko leaned in to capture the older woman's lips in a heated kiss using her hand as support that she placed on the cold ground. Irina lifted her hands to begin unbuttoning Ryoko's shirt, succeeding within seconds with skillful movements.

Ryoko moaned into the kiss and pulled back to completely remove her shirt and remove Irina's as well. Irina opened her eyes to aid the younger girl in the removal of clothing but was shocked. _'What am I doing? She's so much younger than I am! What kind of sick pervert have I become? I met her as a toddler, I can't possibly…' _Ryoko felt Irina's body freeze underneath her and tried to meet Irina's eyes but the older woman quickly pushed her off.

"Irina what's wrong?" Ryoko asked worried but Irina shook her head, "I-I can't. There is a large age difference. You are too young." Irina stood up and rushed to collect her shirt that was lying on the ground, not meeting Ryoko's intense violet gaze. "Too young?" Ryoko repeated softly in disbelief. Irina quickly placed her shirt back on and began to place away the documents. "There is no age for love Irina…" Ryoko started but Irina turned to her, "There isn't, but you are just a child for me. You don't know what you want yet."

"I'm seventeen! You can't call me a child. Does a child make you moan like that?" Ryoko exclaimed loudly with anger. Irina did not respond to the girl's outburst and decided better to leave. Ryoko watched as the scientist walked away and out of the building, leaving her in the cold room alone.

-------------

Cold water trickled down Mika's face as she looked at her reflection on the bathroom's glass. She had taken a break from her work and had splashed cold water on herself to remain awake. Over the last weeks since the project started, she had only achieved few hours of sleep and it was beginning to take its toll on her.

She sighed and toweled her face dry before leaving the room. As she walked back to the operation room, she heard familiar clicking of heels near her. Mika turned and was able to catch a glimpse of Rika entering the elevator. The display on the machine lowered in numbers until it reached area C. "Rika…" She said worriedly and decided to follow the taller woman.

The room was dark and as Rika entered, cold air surrounded her, making her feel the compression of death. "Hey Neli." Rika said softly with a sad smile forming on her face as she came in front of a large glass container. "How is my baby doing?" She asked as she placed her hand on the glass and shivered at the familiar touch. Inside the container was a small child floating in plasmatic liquids. Tubes surrounded her as they supported the life-line of the child that struggled to keep living. Her green locks floated freely around her small round face and Rika cried. She cried like she had done every day since the accident.

"It's okay..." Mika said reassuringly coming up behind the crying woman. Rika did not even flinch as she shook her head, "It's not okay Mika. It won't be okay until Neli is free." Rika looked up and traced her finger on the glass, "Until she is free from this nightmare." Mika hugged the woman as she had learn to do every time. Even though Rika would never accept it, Mika's hugs meant the only support she had in her life. Her only reason for living had turned into finding the cure for Neli's condition after the accident, and had no one that truly understood her like Mika. But Rika hated her for it.

Rika hated her for loving her and for caring sincerely for her. She hated Mika for loving someone who would never love her back. She hated her. But she would never reject her hugs. It was the only thing she had that helped her continue.

"We'll find the cure okay? She'll be okay." Mika whispered as the low humming of machines and the stream of air bubbles that floated up the tank made up the only sounds in the room.

-------------

"Are you serious?" Krystal asked in anger as her younger sister Yasashi retold the events of the morning. Hana and Yuuki also listened in as they ate their lunch.

"Yes, we don't know what was her problem. She just suddenly began saying insensitive things towards us." Fujino commented as she pushed around the peas in her plate. Yes, even Otomes had to eat peas.

" 'Insensitive' is not the right word. Don't try to soften it up Fuji-chan," Jayden scolded lightly and turned towards the group, "That bitch wants her ass kicked and I swear that if she gets on my face again like that I will beat it for her." Yuuki laughed and high-fived her sister. Hana just laughed and decided to change the topic. "Well, I heard that the Cardai heir's party will be hosted here after all. Aren't you guys excited?"

With that, the mood lightened instantly. Yuuki laughed at Hana's comment about "spiking the drinks" at the party, but her laughter was interrupted when she felt a light tap of her shoulder and turned to find Duri. "Du-Duri." Yuuki stuttered and the whole table turned their attention to the bluenette. "May I have a second of your time?" Duri asked courtly as she smiled softly at Yuuki. The girls all exchanged confused looks as Yuuki nodded and stood to follow Duri out of the cafeteria.

"Is it just me or did Duri-sempai seem nervous?" Yasashi asked as the pair disappeared through the doorway. "I agree. Duri-neechan seemed rather nervous. I rarely see her like that." Fujino said as she threw a pea to Ruby who laughed, "What was that for?" Fujino smiled cheekily, "Just making sure you were here. You seem distracted."

Ruby shook her head, "No, I'm okay Fuji-chan. Don't worry." Hana watched the exchange between the two friends and smirked, "Gosh, get a room you two. We all know you are into each other, just dive in already." Both girls blushed but their fun was interrupted when the forceful clearing of throat sounded next to them.

"Oh great. The dyke squad is trying to play matchmaker. How sweet." Toaru said, causing the two girls beside her to laugh maliciously. Jayden bolted from her chair and leaned across the table towards Toaru, "You better shut it Toaru. We aren't messing with you, so don't mess with us." One of the other girls with Toaru chuckled, "Jayden-san is quite the aggressive type. I bet she gets it from Nina-sensei. She did after all, try to destroy humanity."

"Talk about my mother one more time. And I swear you will regret it." Jayden threatened between gritted teeth.

"Just let it go Jayden. It's not worth it." Hana reasoned while trying to appease the girl's anger.. The two Pearls with Toaru, Aya and Chou, chuckled as Aya decided to keep going, "Not worth it? The daughter of a maid who had to marry an Otome to get out of that shithole job would know about worthlessness."

Krystal saw Hana's body tense up as she took a step towards the girl and quickly wrapped her hand around Hana's arm. "Look! The maid's daughter wants to fight me! I'm so scared!" Aya said to her friends sarcastically.

"Aya-sempai, I ask that you stop your insulting comments before this escalates to a higher level." Fujino asked when she realized the tense air that began to suffocate them. The eyes of the entire lunchroom where on them. Toaru and her friends were notorious for causing trouble but they had never before been so blunt in their taunting and aggressive behavior.

Toaru grinned. This was the chance she was looking for. "You have no space to speak Fujino. Your mothers are the worst of them all. Just look at this!" Toaru motioned around the room, "They run a school that basically teaches a life of lesbianism. Good thing I am the exception as I have a boyfriend."

Fujino's breathing quickened as she clenched her fists. Breathing in deeply, she smiled up to Toaru calmly, "Your opinions concerning my parents truly hurt me but I won't fall in your game Toaru-san. I just ask that you immediately leave this room before I can no longer stop my friends or myself."

Ruby and the others were not surprised at Fujino's ability to keep calm, she was after all, the daughter of Archmeister Viola. It was only natural.

"Are you threatening your sempais?" Chou asked cockily and at this, Jayden laughed, "Sempai my ass. A real sempai knows when to keep her mouth shut."

Toaru grinned. It was here. "Like Kiyo-sempai? From what I heard she can't even keep her legs shut."

Jayden, Yasashi, Krystal, Hana and Ruby all stood mouth agape as Fujino launched herself against Toaru with such a force that both girls landed on the floor. Toaru found herself covering her face from Fujino's blows as she silently prayed.

_'Mika-sama. Hurry.'_

-------------

"Activate server override system!" Mika ordered as she saw the raven girl on her screen beating up her recruit with ease. The image was suddenly cut off as the girl's cell phone that was streaming was shut off in a blur.

Mika changed the input signal to the cameras on the outside as she waited for confirmation from her subordinates.

"System override activated. Awaiting orders." A woman called out from her station. Mika nodded and turned to her right where Rika smiled and nodded.

"Activate server now and begin operation by disarming the server's security and activating the selected robes within the area. Make sure that it is not traceable." Mika ordered with precision.

Meanwhile Rika watched the screen that showed the peaceful academy's building from outside. She Smirked, _'Let's see how long it remains peaceful.' _

-------------

"Listen Yuuki. We need to resolve this now." Duri said sternly as she stood in front of the red-head with a serious look on her face. Yuuki gulped nervously, "I know." Duri heard some voices in the cafeteria increasing in volume but she paid no attention as her gaze focused on Yuuki's lime eyes. "I can't speak for both of us, but as far as I'm concerned, I am completely sure of what I want." Duri's soft voice that was filled with determination made Yuuki's nervousness dissipate.

"And what is it that you want?" Yuuki asked suddenly as she met Duri's wine eyes that swirled with emotion. Duri glanced around before setting her gaze on Yuuki once again, "You."

The word echoed on Yuuki's head as her heart's beating increased rapidly. Her eyes widened as she felt Duri closing the space between them with ease, "Yuuki, please give me another chance. Please."

The space between them disappeared completely as Yuuki leaned in to meet Duri's lips halfway.

Toaru smirked from underneath her hands that protected her from Fujino's blows when her GEM suddenly began to feel warm.

Fujino's rage did not decrease as she continued her attack on Toaru. The voices calling her to stop did not register in her mind as she could feel warmness in her ear prominent from her GEM. Suddenly, the girl underneath her pushed her away forcefully, pausing her attack momentarily. Toaru bolted up and within a second, her robe was activated and a staff was swung at Fujino.

Ruby screamed in horror as Fujino was thrown onto a table with the swing of Toaru's staff and Fujino's cry of pain resounded in the room. Ruby rushed towards her raven haired friend but before she could reach Fujino, Toaru attacked her and sent her against the wall.

Duri pulled away from the kiss abruptly as a scream of pain reached their ears. "Fuji-chan!" Duri's panicked voice brought Yuuki back from her blissful state as she followed the bluenette towards the cafeteria where an immense amount of commotion alerted the girls something was definitely wrong.

_**F.K.V.  
Connected  
R.T.M.**_

_**XI  
Materialise  
Activated**_

"AHHH!" Yuuki pulled Duri back towards her as she saw a flash of colors zoom in front of them followed by a loud crash from the window's glass being shattered by the strong force.

"_Natsu-kaachan! Kiyo-neechan hit me with the ball!" Fujino cried as she rubbed her head with a pout. She looked up to her mother's emerald eyes that were set softly on her as she was picked up by her mother. Fujino's pout disappeared immediately as she cuddled into her mother's hold. She placed her ear next to her mother's heart and giggled, "Your heart is so loud!" Fujino felt her mother's chest shake as she laughed, "I guess so. Your's is too!" Fujino giggled again as her chest was playfully poked by Natsuki. "I love you Natsu-kaachan." Fujino said as she hid her face in her mother's chest. Natsuki chuckled lightly, "I love you too Fuji-chan."_

The memories of her childhood replayed in Fujino's mind as she moved without control. She could not see what was going on. All she saw was her mother's smile.

'_It's okay.'_

Hana and the rest stood in shock as they stared at the shattered window. They also realized that they had all materialized into their robes. They ran over to the hole that had been a window, and saw Fujino holding a panicked Toaru against a tree with ease. "Crap. It happened again." Yuuki said as she realized Fujino's robe was not the coral assigned robe, but her Titan robe. Duri jumped off and landed swiftly on the ground as she began running towards her sister. The rest of the girls followed easily since they were all able to with their robes.

"What's going on?" Yohko asked as she turned to Irina when the screens in the lab all became a black still image. "I don't know. I can't do anything." Irina said as she tried typing commands into the system but it remained non-responsive.

"Yohko-sensei! There's a fight outside!" A coral called out as she entered the lab. "Why do you have your robe on?" Irina asked noticing the girl's attire. "We don't know. Everyone in the lunch room had their robes activated abruptly but Fujino-san's robe is a meister robe."

"It's the Titan materialization. We have to stop her." Yohko said as they both followed the student towards the battlefield.

As Hana and the others rushed towards Fujino and Toaru, Aya nudged Chou to start their part of the mission. "Hey Hana! Why don't we take care of this now that we have our robes? Or are you scared that you aren't as powerful as me?" Hana turned towards Aya, "Leave me alone."

"Oh, maid's daughter has an inferiority complex. Why does that not surprise me?" Aya remarked casually and smirked when she saw Hana going towards her. "I told you to not talk about my mom!"

Aya sidestepped the dark-haired girl's attack and planted a blow on her back, sending Hana crashing on the ground. Aya smiled triumphantly as she watched Hana struggling to get up, and did not see the girl that attacked her on the back suddenly.

Hana looked up and saw Aya taking a blow from Yasashi's staff. Yasashi smiled and walked towards her, "Are you okay?" She asked extending a hand towards her friend. Hana reached out to take it, but before she could, Yasashi was grabbed from behind by Aya who held her in a tight lock. "You bitch. Did you never learn to respect your elders?" Aya said angrily before swinging the girl away forcefully.

_**H.H.S.  
Connected  
Y.W.Y.**_

_**KAPPA  
Materialise  
Activated**_

Yasashi stood in awe as she saw Hana's robe transforming within seconds. The coral robe was now completely dark with pink rims. A "K" appeared in its center along with what seemed an endless design of interlacing pink and green circles throughout the entire robe. She watched Hana's hand raise and as she opened her palm, three glowing balls of energy appeared.

Aya's face distorted in horror as she saw the three energy balls suddenly turn into three large swords that began hovering around Hana as the dark-haired girl began walking towards her. Hana stopped a few feet in front of Aya as she smirked and with a raise of her hand, the swords flew towards Aya.

Duri and Yuuki stood back in fear as they saw Toaru tied to the tree with a luminous rope of energy. "Fuji-chan! Stop it! You're going to kill her!" Duri called out to her sister as Toaru's screams of pain filled the air. Fujino did not react to her sister's voice as she watched Toaru recoil in pain. She did not have to move, only think of what she wanted and her weapon would do it for her.

'_Tighter.'_

Toaru's breath hitched as she felt the rope around her tightened. She could no longer scream for she feared that the oxygen she had left would be wasted.

"I have to do it Duri, or else your sister will kill her." Yuuki stated with determination as she took hold of Duri's face carefully. "But what if you can't control it?" Duri asked knowing that the Titan power would control the user if negative emotions were strong. "Don't worry. I can handle it." Yuuki said and leaned in to kiss Duri shortly before pulling back.

"Titan Materialize!"

_**Y.Z.W.  
Connected  
D.K.V.**_

_**ZETA  
Materialise  
Activated**_

Yuuki could feel the immense power trying to take a hold of her senses but she fought them back and regained control quickly. Toaru felt her body giving in to the lack of oxygen and only saw a blur of blue before she was released and fell on the ground. Fujino turned to see who had attacked her so harshly. She did not recognize the person. But she was now the enemy.

"Fujino! You need to control your power! You are out of control!" Yuuki tried reasoning but quickly found that it wouldn't work with Fujino as the younger girl extended her arm and the rope of light appeared and coiled around it. Yuuki materialized her own sword and realized that it wasn't like a normal weapon. It seemed to be connected to her mind.

The energy around Fujino turned into what seemed a sword, but instead of lunging, Fujino swung her arm and it extended to attack Yuuki.

Yohko and Irina reached the scene at the same time that most of the other teachers did, including Nao and Nina. "What the hell is this?!" Nao could not believe her eyes. In front of her stood what seemed a scene taken from a war movie. She saw Fujino and her daughter battling as other students were panicking. She saw a student she recognized as Chou fighting with her younger daughter, and was relieved that Jayden had not materialized her Titan form.

Suddenly, they heard a chilling scream of pain from nearby. "Aya-san?" Irina questioned when she recognized the voice.

"So who's inferior now?" Hana's voice was husky and almost in a whisper, but Aya was able to hear it since Hana was holding her up against the wall. As the swords had flown against her, Aya waited the pain and hoped it would end quickly, but at the last moment, Hana turned them into small stars that dug into Aya's skin slowly as if she had stopped time. Aya could feel the star's pointed tips digging deeper and deeper into her skin and could begin to feel them rupturing her skin. A single drop of blood surfaced from her arm.

"I said: who's inferior now?" Hana asked again, this time the stars dug deeper and Aya screamed, "I AM! I AM!"

"Finally, home sweet home." Kiyo declared as she got out of the limo. Natsuki rolled her eyes and Diana laughed. They began walking towards the school but the screeching sound of tires behind them stopped them.

"Shizuru?" Natsuki asked surprised as her wife got out of the car and walked towards them rapidly. "Nina-san called me. There seems to have been a problem with the founder's server and now all of the girls have access to their robes and some of them have even materialized their Titan forms. Including Fujino." Shizuru explained hastily. With a wave of her hand, she materialized. "See? The server is no longer working with the security protocols." Natsuki nodded and materialized her own robe, "Let's go."

Yuuki's sword that was holding against Fujino's attack began to wrap around the younger girl's weapon until it finally encased it. With a tug, Yuuki brought Fujino up to her commanding her weapon to constrict her. Duri's gaze followed as Yuuki's weapon, now a shapeless-energy mass, began wrapping around Fujino, but as soon as Fujino's sword was free, she pulled back and swung it towards Yuuki's stomach as it transformed into a dagger in midair.

"Duri!" Shizuru screamed in horror as she saw her blue-haired daughter standing in front of Yuuki with her back to Fujino. The look on Fujino's face was distorted in repugnance as apprehension of what she had just done overcame her.

Yuuki's throat became dry as Duri stumbled forwards and fell into Yuuki's arms. Fujino looked down to her own hands and saw the dagger was smeared with dripping blood. She could feel the warmness of the liquid in her cold palms as she dropped the dagger to the ground.

Time seemed to have frozen instantly. The screams disappeared from Duri's mind as she felt her body fall on waiting hands behind her. She could feel liquid dripping down her back as she became dizzy. It had all been so fast. One second she saw Fujino aiming at Yuuki and then she could feel the pain.

She had only meant to protect Yuuki.

"_Duri!" "Duri!" _The voices of her mothers and those around her did not register in her mind as she slowly began to lose consciousness. Within seconds, she became enveloped in darkness.

-------------

'_Warm. So warm.'_

Duri's eyes slowly opened and were blinded by the bright lights of the infirmary. She slowly regained consciousness and could feel a warm sensation in her right hand. She tried closing around the warmth but found it took too much energy that she did not posses.

Yuuki carefully caressed the bluenette's cheek when she noticed the girl was waking up, "Hey there."

A smile formed on Duri's lips, "Hey." She said huskily recognizing the voice although her eyes remained closed. "How are you feeling?" Yuuki asked concerned. Duri had passed out after the attack and had remained unconscious throughout the day and until the morning. Yuuki had begged to stay with Duri throughout the night while Shizuru and Natsuki came in to check up every few hours along with Yohko.

"My body feels sore all over." Duri replied as she met lime eyes that looked upon her with an emotion that Duri could now recognize.

Love.

"Well, you did take quite a hit yesterday." Yuuki began to explain, "The wound caused by the dagger was quite large and you had an internal hemorrhage on your back." Duri could feel her stomach turning at the image of Yuuki's recount. "Ho-how is that possible? The dagger wasn't so large…" Duri questioned and at that moment Yohko and Shizuru walked into the room.

Shizuru walked to her daughter's side and as much as she wanted to hug her, she knew she couldn't for it would hurt her. Lightly taking her free hand she smiled, "I see you're awake." Duri looked up to see her mother's wine eyes and realized they were bright red and puffy.

'_She was crying.'_

"I'm fine mom." Duri said reassuringly, "But…I can't feel my legs." The flash of pain in Shizuru's eyes was not missed by Duri. Yohko walked over towards her and placed her hand on Shizuru's shoulder, "I'll tell her." Shizuru nodded and took a step back, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Duri felt fear rise in her throat and turned to Yuuki for help but the red-head only smiled sadly.

"Yohko-san, wh-what's going on?" Duri asked as she tried hard to hide her panic. She tried moving her legs but they did not respond.

"Duri, the weapon that was used in the attack was one that we have little knowledge about, but what we have found is that it is able to transform in size and shape rapidly and it also has anti-nanomachine properties." Yohko explained as she saw terror in the bluenette's eyes, "Anti-nanomachines? What does that mean?" Duri questioned.

Yohko sighed, "I'm afraid we don't know much about it but it destroys any nano-machines it comes in contact with. When the weapon penetrated your lower back, it destroyed the nano-machines in the immediate area and it also managed to damage major nerves and tissue that has left your legs paralyzed for an indefinite amount of time." Tears began to stream down the Kruger twin but Yohko had to continue, "We will try our best to repair the damage but we don't know whether you'll be like this for a few days or…years."

Yuuki felt Duri's grip tighten around her hand as the bluenette began to cry. She had already heard of the news during the night and had been heartbroken, but hoped that Duri would be okay soon. While they had all technology needed to repair the damage done to the girl's lower back, without the nano-machines it would take much longer for the nerves and tissue to be regenerated.

Yuuki wiped a tear from the girl's face, "Don't worry Duri-chan. It'll be okay."

-------------

The air in the room was tense. The girls looked down at the tiled floor as they feared looking at the principal's storming emerald eyes that were set on them. Beside the principal were both Nao and Nina along with Miss Maria.

"We have come to the decision that this power is too great for girls like you, so we have decided to take extreme measures." The principal began as she glanced at the girls who were lined up on the line. The seven girls did not move feeling the principal's gaze burning through them.

"While there was a problem on the server, you girls abused the power and engaged on overly aggressive behavior." Natsuki continued, "Some of you engaged directly while others did it indirectly, we will remove your GEMs until further notice. You will partake in robe-less physical practices as you have proven already to be physically-fit beyond average. Your GEMs will be returned once we are sure that you can control your powers completely and won't cause any more damages."

Fujino felt like the tears she had shed throughout the night before had not been enough as she felt on the verge of crying. She had felt horrible after realizing what she had done to her sister. "While Kiyo, Diana and Duri, who are not present at this moment, did not have fault in this, their GEMs will also be taken away until they are also ready to fully control them." Natsuki added, not feeling the need to comment about Yuuki since it was obvious that she had partaken on the incident and her GEM would be taken away.

"Hand them over." Nao ordered and the girls quickly did as told. They removed their GEMs swiftly and placed it on the teacher's hand as she walked by each of them. After obtaining the GEMs, Nao walked over to her wife who held a small box in her hand. Nina opened it and revealed a lined interior with small fixtures for the GEMs which where rapidly filled by the GEMs.

"You will also be punished severely." Miss Maria's voice brought the girl's to look at her with wide eyes, "Extra duties and cleaning jobs are few of the things you will be ordered to do for the next year." Jayden's brows furrowed, "What about Toaru, and her bitchy friends? What's going to happen to them?"

"Jayden!" Nina called out to her younger daughter, "Watch your mouth. You are in _NO_ position to be asking for any explanations of any kind." Jayden looked down regretfully, "Sorry mom."

"All those involved will be punished, so don't concern yourself with it." Nao reprimanded before Natsuki excused the girls and ordered them to leave to their respective morning classes. Nina also left since she had a class to teach. Before stepping out, Hana approached Natsuki, "Ano…Principal, how is Aya-san doing?"

"Aya will be fine. She might have some scars but they won't last forever so don't worry." Natsuki answered truthfully. "Thank you." Hana replied before exiting the room.

Nao turned to Natsuki, "Well, we've got a party to plan."

-------------

"And we have a party to prepare for ne'?" Rika asked gleefully as she turned towards her staff who all nodded.

"Yep," Rika said turning to her screen as the scene of the fight replayed over and over. "We sure do."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. This is like the "beginning of the end" in a way I guess LOL. By the way, in case you didn't "recognize" her, the little girl in the tube, Rika's daughter is Neliel (child form) from the anime "Bleach."**

**Please review and tell me what you think. I always appreciate reader feedback, it makes me all giddy and excited to write more ^ . ^**

**Please review!!! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. But to make up for it I made this! Drama! More drama! Who doesn't like drama? (I dont like it if it is in my own life, but here I love it!)**

**ENJOY! **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**8**

_-KNOCK-KNOCK-_

Kiyo walked to the door quickly and opened it, revealing her mother Shizuru. "Hello Kiyo-chan," Shizuru greeted with a smile as she stepped inside. Her smile turned into a frown upon spotting Duri lying under the covers, "Duri, aren't you attending the dance?"

The bluenette poked her head from under the covers, "No. I'm not going." Kiyo rolled her eyes and went back to the restroom where she was finishing up getting ready, "Shizu-kaachan, don't even bother. I already tried talking her into going but it didn't work." Shizuru went to sit on her daughter's bed and gently ran her hand on her forehead to make sure she didn't have fever or something similar. Ever since the accident, her immune system had been weakened significantly and she had experienced minor illnesses to accompany her disability.

"I don't want you to be by yourself through the entire night Duri. Everyone else will be at the event." Shizuru began to explain but Duri cut her off, "Yuuki will be staying with me. She said she didn't like parties anyways." Laughter was heard coming from the bathroom, "Duri, did you tell mom that you and Yuuki are an item now?"

Shizuru's elegant brow raised inquisitively as she watched her daughter experiencing the "Kruger Curse" as her face became brightly red. "Ara ara, is this true Duri? Are you and Yuuki officially dating now?" Duri nodded before hiding under the covers once more. Duri had a habit of easily reversing into childish manners whenever one of her mothers was around her. Specially if it was Shizuru.

Shizuru smiled, "Well congratulations Duri. It was about time after all." Kiyo came out of the bathroom finally finished, a red dress hugging her body and showing off the body she had inherited from both of her mothers. "Why aren't you ready mom?" Kiyo inquired noticing that her mother was still wearing her Otome uniform.

"I was about go get ready but I wanted to check on the Kruger Twins first." Shizuru replied as she stood up from the bed and began to make her way to the door. Before exiting, she turned to Duri, "Both you and Yuuki will be excused from the party, just don't do anything naughty okay?" Shizuru closed the door as she heard Kiyo's laughter and could clearly imagine Duri's blushing face at the moment.

Natsuki looked up from her desk when the door opened and Shizuru stepped in. She lowered her gaze once more and returned to her work. "How is Duri?" She asked as she heard Shizuru's footsteps walking towards her. Shizuru stopped in front of the desk, "She is doing fine. She has decided not to go to the party though, and Yuuki will be keeping her company so that she is not alone."

"And you are letting her?!" Natsuki asked suddenly angered, her emerald orbs now glaring at Shizuru, "I don't remember getting a petition from Yuuki to skip out from the event. All students are required to attend, Duri being the exception due to her disability at the moment." Shizuru's crimson eyes widened in surprise at Natsuki's bitter tone. She did notice her voice cracking slightly upon mentioning Duri's current state.

Shizuru knew she had to be careful with Natsuki unless she wanted the bluenette to become more enraged. Ever since the accident the Principal had become increasingly irritable and was just looking for any excuse to take it out on the first person who angered her. Shizuru meet Natsuki's icy gaze, "Would Natsuki prefer that Duri stay alone for the length of the party? I much rather think that Yuuki's company will be beneficiary for our daughter. You know that Duri is extremely vulnerable to falling in a depression if she is allowed to."

"That is for me to decide. Not you. I am the damn principal of this damn school am I not? Last time I checked I was the Headmaster and you worked for me! And Duri is _my_ daughter! I gave birth to her!" Natsuki was now screaming, but did not care since the room was sound-proof, and at the moment she was too upset to even care if anyone else heard her anyway.

Shizuru, who had tried to keep calm in this situation, was now too hurt to care. "How dare you say that? Duri is my daughter too and you know that!" She took a step backward, her voice faltering slightly as she continued, "I-I never thought you'd say something as hurtful as that Natsuki. Ever."

"Well then perhaps if you had raised Fujino well enough she wouldn't have stabbed her own sister!" Natsuki retorted, her fist crumbling to pieces the pen she had held in her hands.

"This is NOT my fault!" Shizuru contended angrily, "I was not the only one who raised them. We both took part in our daughters' discipline and you know that our parenting had nothing to do with the accident. So don't you dare blame it on me!"

Natsuki was not given a chance to respond as Shizuru turned and walked off towards their room, grabbed the dress she was wearing for the event, and stalked off out of the office. Minutes later Natsuki turned towards the glass wall and could see Shizuru speeding off in her vehicle.

'_Damn it. What did I just do?' _Natsuki asked herself as she sat down on her chair once again and stared at one of the pictures she had in her desk. It was of the whole family, Shizuru and Natsuki were holding hands in a park as a toddler Duri latched on to Shizuru's leg and toddler Kiyo latched onto Natsuki's leg. Fujino was being held by Natsuki's free arm as they all smiled to the camera.

-------

Chikane walked into the large hall where the party was taking place. The entire room was crowded with students and many other royal and political figures that had been invited. She quickly scanned the area, hoping to see someone she recognized but her attention was adverted when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned and found Kiyo smiling, "Hey there. You look lost."

"Well, thank you for finding me then." The teal-haired girl replied with a smile of her own. Kiyo watched with interest as Chikane's eyes trailed down her body carefully, taking in the view. Kiyo grinned and took her hand, "Come on, let's dance." Chikane was caught off guard and was easily pulled onto the dance floor.

Diana watched from a distance as the pair began to dance. The two were in perfect sync as their bodies twirled in the dance floor. It made her sick. Akish, who was standing next to her friend, grinned when she followed Diana's gaze, more like glare, and spotted the couple, "Looks like Kiyo found a new fuck buddy."

Diana shifter her glare to Akish, "Fuck you." Akish's grin turned into a smirk as she turned her body and pinned Diana against the wall they were leaning on. Diana was not able to stop her as Akish leaned in close to Diana's ear and whispered, "I know you want to, but I'm afraid I don't fuck my friends."

Akish released Diana as a good-looking Coral walked near them, "Get over her Diana, you know that she is the wild creature that will never stay in your cage. You weren't destined to be the one who can claim her." Diana fumed as she watched Akish stick her tongue out playfully before leaving after the Coral.

The blonde decided she needed some fresh air. Akish words rang true since she had always known that Kiyo was out of her reach. She knew that apart from the fun they had while having sex, there was nothing else between them. The friendship they had shared, the moments where they truly cared for each other, were just a distant memory that could not be brought back. They had messed everything up when they began sleeping together. Not once had they thought they were in love, because they weren't. Haruka had warned her about the repercussions of being with Kiyo, but she had not listened. She was too blinded by her own lust and need that nothing could make her change her mind. It just wasn't happening. But now that she watched Kiyo dancing with that girl, the way their bodies seemed to fit perfectly with each other, the way Kiyo's emerald orbs shone brightly in joy, it caused Diana to see that it was the end.

Kanade stood in the balcony looking up at the starless sky. She sighed and leaned against the railing. The cold air was a nice change from the heated temperature of the party hall where she couldn't even move without someone blocking her path and trying to make conversation with her. Her mother was guilty of planning this. She was supposed to be choosing an otome or something like that. _'This is really lame. I haven't found anyone I like enough to have them with me 24/7.' _Kanade was too busy with her own thoughts to hear the presence of another one with her.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't think anyone was up here." Diana apologized quickly upon finding a brunette leaning against the balcony's railing. She had decided to escape from the crowdedness of the party by coming to the second floor, but found that someone had stolen her idea. Kanade quickly turned and found the blonde about to turn around, but she recognized her, "Diana-chan?"

Diana turned, "Kanade-chan?" Kanade smiled and moved to quickly engulf the taller girl in a hug. "I didn't think I would see you here. I heard you had gone back with your parents to Aries." Kanade began as they pulled back. The news about the terrorist attempt during the Inauguration games had spread all around Earl.

"I came back shortly after. But I wasn't aware this party was for you, I just heard it was for some princess." Diana replied with a smile. She and Kanade had been childhood friends and would see each other whenever the President of Aries would visit the Cardair Empire, or vice versa. Over the past few years they had been unable to see each other as Diana became completely focused on her studies in Garderobe and Kanade was overwhelmed with her royal education and training. "Well I'm glad to see you here. You should've see how annoyed I was back there. I was being swarmed!" Kanade commented grinning, "But why are you up here? Shouldn't you be down there with the otomes? Trying to annoy someone?"

"But why go down there if I can annoy you here all the same?" Diana returned teasingly. Kanade rolled her eyes with a smirk, "That's true. But I can use my magical princess powers to destroy your otome-annoyious-powers!" Diana laughed with her friend, the worries and resignation over Kiyo momentarily forgotten. That was one of the things Diana enjoyed most about Kanade. No matter how sad shefelt, whenever Kanade was around, she always made the pain disappear.

-------

Mika watched the pair of girls laughing in the balcony through her screen. She tapped her headset on, "Target has been located. Currently in second floor balcony on right wing. Accompanied by female identified as Diana Chrysant Armitage."

"_Understood. Waiting for orders to proceed." _A female voice responded on Mika's headset.

Rika, who was standing beside Mika in front of the control panel, smiled. This was going according to plan so perfectly that she found it hard to believe. She hadn't expected it to be so easy, "Mika, tell them that since the opportunity has presented itself, I believe it is better that we take it and kill two birds in one shot."

Mika nodded, "Go on and apprehend the other girl as well. Don't do so until order to do so. Acting now will be too obvious."

"_Got it. Will wait for further instructions."_

Mika removed her headset and turned to Rika who was grinning widely. "This is going to be great!" Rika announced before leaving the room.

-------

Ryoko's eyes were tired as she swiped her index finger across a screen to open a new file. She read it over carefully before placing it away once more and opening a new file. This routine had been going on for hours as she tried finding more information on the Titan Materialization. She was alone in the lab since her mother was attending the party and Irina…well she wasn't sure where Irina was.

Tired of the computer's touchscreen, Ryoko stood up and stretched before moving to her mother's desk where a large pile of books were stacked up. Ryoko picked one of them up, remembering her mother had mentioned she had brought them from the founder's building and was planning on studying them later. She carefully opened the book and began to flip through it. It mostly looked like random study notes from some class taught in Garderobe. Ryoko quickly grew tired and was about to put it down when a white envelope fell out from between the pages. Ryoko placed the book on the table and picked up the envelope. Reading the postmark date, Ryoko realized whatever was inside was quite old.

She slipped her fingers inside to take out the letter and unfolding it carefully, began to read it.

_Dear Emiko,_

_I am afraid this is the last letter you will receive from me. My wounds are too grave even for our advanced medicine to heal. Yesterday we lost five more girls, and the way things are going, we will lose even more today. Thank the founder that you didn't have to come out here in the battle field, even the girls who think will make it out alive know that they have been emotionally scarred for life._

_Emiko, there is so much blood everywhere. It is so sad to think that the same girls whom we shared our coral years, and even our pearl year have turned into our enemies. The countries in alliances have decided to unite their Otomes into armies of death. At first we began with one-on-one matches but now there is no control whatsoever. Those who had been out here long enough have been able to activate their Titan Materialization and when they do, they go wild. They fail to recognize their own comrades. Two of the five girls we lost yesterday were killed by one of our own team. At the end we had to kill her ourselves before she killed us. This is not the first case of uncontrollable power under Titan Materialization, but it only happens to those who can't control it, which is most of us. Only those strong enough are able to control their power, but as you know, most of us who were sent out here to aid the meister Otomes were still merely_

_Pearl students getting ready to graduate. It is a horrible thing to see Emiko, I cannot begin to describe how bloodthirsty the girls get under the materialization. It is as if their mind is completely controlled by their thirst for war, for revenge and for blood._

_So many deaths have occurred through it that the Headmaster and other superiors have agreed that it is too dangerous for otomes to use it. From what I heard, they were looking for a way to get rid of it. I really hope they manage to do so, because it has been our downfall, and will continue to destroy us unless it is stopped. _

_Emiko, I can write no more, forgive me for not being able to hold true to our promise of being together forever. _

_I love you, and always will._

_Kyoko_

Ryoko placed the letter back onto the envelope and into the book. It was heartbreaking to know that the Otomes' own power had been the cause of so much destruction and pain, even to their own students. No wonder Midori had held a grudge against them. Ryoko went back to her computer and began pulling files open again. There had to be something dealing with how they were able to get rid of the materialization, or at least hide it somehow since only a few students were capable of activating it.

"You're not going to the party?" Ryoko turned her head towards the voice and found Irina standing a few feet away from her. She had been to preoccupied with the letter and research to hear her coming. "I'm afraid I have important matters to finish before I can enjoy myself at a party." Ryoko responded without meeting Irina's gaze. Irina frowned and moved towards Ryoko. Ever since their little…scene…at the founder's building there had been a tension between them. Even Yohko had noticed it but had decided to stay out of it. She knew her daughter was old enough to take care of it herself. "Well…too much work isn't good for anyone either. You should come." Irina tried as she smiled, hoping to get the girl's attention but it didn't work.

"Thank you Irina-san, but I have no interest in attending the party." Ryoko's answer was not harsh but it held no emotion. Irina breathed in deeply, _'I am an adult and should be able to handle my problems like one. I shouldn't be trying avoid the inevitable. We have to talk about it sooner or later.' _

"Listen Ryoko, we need to talk about what happened." Irina said as she stood behind Ryoko's chair. The younger woman spun around in the chair and stood up, her violet gaze focusing on Irina, "There is nothing to talk about."

Ryoko decided it would be best to leave, but as she attempted to walk away, Irina took hold of her hand, "Ryoko wait. Please don't leave." Ryoko's brows furrowed angrily, "Like you left me the other day?" Irina released Ryoko, "Please, it wasn't like that. You just don't understand that as an adult, I have to think far beyond the moment, and not let myself get carried away by whims or impulses."

"Whims Irina?" Ryoko asked as she walked closer to Irina, as the latter slowly tried backing away but quickly found herself against the wall, "Don't you understand that life is too short to worry about beyond the moment? The moment you have right now is all you have. Tomorrow is not promised and if you don't follow your heart, you might always regret it."

"You might be right, but what I want to do is not right. What you ask of me is just not right." Irina said as she glanced to the side, not wanting to meet Ryoko's intense gaze. "Irina," Ryoko murmured as she pressed her body against Irina's, her voice was soft as she was on the verge of tears, "Please tell me if you love me or not…That's all I want to know. Please don't lie."

Irina felt immense pain to see Ryoko in such pain. "No Ryoko." She lied, "I'm sorry but I don't." Ryoko pulled back and ran out from the room. Irina was too shocked to move. She let herself slide to the ground as she began to cry. Why was she always so scared of living in the moment? Why was she always scared of falling in love? Irina's glazed eyes look up towards the exit where Ryoko had disappeared, _'It is too late to be scared of falling in love.'_

_-_------

Fujino shifted uncomfortably on her seat. Ruby, who was sitting by her side, watched as her friend squirmed in her seat. "Are you alright Fuji-chan?" She asked the raven haired girl.

"I'm okay…yep I'm good." Fujino tried to sound reassuring but realized she failed when she saw worry in Ruby's eyes. "Don't worry," she tried again as she lightly squeezed her friend's knee, "I'm okay." Ruby nodded and turned her attention to her bickering friends, Yasashi and Jayden, who seemed to be in a rather heated discussion about a matter that Ruby had missed.

Sighing, Fujino's attention went back to large honor table on the edge of the room. It was luxuriously adorned and prepared for all the most "important" people, including Cardair's royalty, King Kazuya and Queen Akane. She saw both Natsuki and Shizuru sitting side-by-side as they seemed engrossed in conversations with different dignitaries. Although both of her mothers were smiling pleasantly and nodding along with whatever they were hearing, Fujino saw the stiffness of their bodies, the way their gazes seemed slightly unfocused and not once did they glance at each other. To anybody else it wouldn't seem weird, and it would appear that the couple was as happy as ever, but Fujino knew better.

'_They are mad at each other…' _Fujino concluded easily. She had a natural talent to read people's body language to see what was going through their mind. Must've been part of her Viola heritage. Fujino rubbed her eyes wearily and leaned back on her chair. She was extremely sleep-deprived and it was beginning to take its toll. She had experienced horrible nightmares every night after the accident and she had been unable to stay asleep for more than a few hours at a time. She always made sure to keep quiet through the night so that her roommate wouldn't be disturbed.

"Mind if we sit here?" Krystal asked as she and Hana came up to the table. Yasashi smirked when she looked up to see her sister, "But of course Onee-chan! Sit sit!" Jayden's eye's widened upon seeing the smirk on her friend's face. Krystal also watched her sister suspiciously, but decided not to worry about it. Yasashi leaned into the table, "So Krystal-neechan, guess what I found yesterday under Jayden's bed?"

"What were you doing underneath Jayden's bed?" Krystal asked as she raised a slim brow in her sister's direction.

"YeaYasashi-chan, what exactly where you doing down there?" Jayden asked with a smirk of her own. She needed to distract Yasashi as much as she could. Hana frowned and faked a pout, "Don't tell me Sashi-chan is cheating on me with Jay-chan!"

Yasashi's eyes widened in shock, "Wh-what?! No no no! I would never do anything like that!" She said as she scrambled to her feet and to Hana's side who was now "weeping" and hiding her face in her hands.

Not missing a beat, Jayden took her friend's distraction as an opportunity to make her escape. "Krystal-chan, would you like to dance?" she asked, to which Krystal quickly nodded and followed. Krystal had a feeling her sister was just trying to embarrass Jayden, and she rather not see that.

Shizuru turned towards Natsuki, "Headmaster, I do believe it is time for you to make your speech." Natsuki frowned, "Shizuru…can we talk first?" Although Shizuru's face remained placid and calm, Natsuki had no problem seeing through it and knowing she had hurt her wife deeply. "Ara, I'm afraid that you have a more important duty to complete at the moment. As headmaster, Natsuki should have her priorities straight." Shizuru's response was cold before she turned towards Akane.

Natsuki sighed and stood up, tapping her glass with an eating utensil carefully to grab the guests' attention. The orchestra immediately stopped playing and everyone turned towards the Principal. Kiyo looked up and saw her mom was preparing to give some lame speech and decided to bolt. Grabbing Chikane's hand, she pulled them out of the crowd, careful to not be noticed, and exited the hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. It is a pleasure for Garderobe to be hosting tonight's event in honor of the Cardair Royal family," she motioned towards Kazuya and Akane who smiled and nodded, "and in particular for their Daughter Kanade Krau-Xeku." Natsuki scanned the area looking for the princess but failed to see her. She glanced to Akane, but she only shrugged. Natsuki continued, "During tonight's event it is planned for the Princess to find a suitable Otome for her reign, and the Academy hopes that she will be pleased with the girls here and can find one that she connects with enough to want her as her Otome."

During Natsuki's speech, Kanade and Diana walked out of the balcony and began making their way towards the hall, realizing they had already spent enough time away from the main event. "Well then it's a date." Kanade announced as she clasped Diana's hand in her own. Diana glanced down to their intertwined hand and smiled, liking how their hands seemed to fit together perfectly. "It is definitively a date." She assured the brunette with a light squeeze of their hands. They had decided to meet up the next day before Kanade had to return to her country and were planning on exploring Windbloom together.

As the neared the staircase, a woman in a white button up shirt and black pants came up to them with a tray in hand. "Your highness, would you like a drink?" The woman asked with a smile as she extended the tray towards Kanade. Diana eyed the server suspiciously, but Kanade grinned, "Awww, you are too nice. To come up here just to offer a drink." Diana realized that was really suspicious, since she was sure nobody knew where they were, but before she could voice her thoughts, Kanade was already drinking from the glass cup.

Diana saw the woman's smile turn into a smirk as Kanade dizzily placed the cup back on the tray and leaned against Diana, her eyelids desperate to close. "Di-Diana..Diana-chan…" She mumbled with a wide grin before breaking in a fit of giggles. Diana held Kanade tightly before turning to the woman and glaring upon finding three other women, dressed in same attire, standing beside the first server. "What did you do to her?" Diana snarled as she tried holding on to the princess, but soon enough, Kanade was completely slumped on her and could not hold herself up.

'_Great time to not have my GEM._' She thought as she saw the women stalking up to her. She gently laid the unconscious princess against the ground and prepared for a hand-to-hand combat, hoping to be able to take them on. The first woman to attack began to unleash a flurry of kicks and punches that Diana struggled to defend. She was able to find an opening and punch the woman hard on her face, hearing the bone crunch underneath her fist. She smiled contently upon seeing her work as the woman gritted her teeth to keep from screaming and took steps back. As Diana turned to meet her next victim, she was rammed against the wall and found herself pinned against the wall forcefully. She tried to move but soon felt the cold metal of a knife against her neck. "Don't move." The feminine voice whispered on her ear.

Kiyo stopped midway through the staircase upon hearing some unusual shuffling on the hall way they were walking up to. She gently pressed Chikane against the wall beside her and carefully poked her head out to see what was going on and spotted Diana being held against the wall as a pair of women, whom Kiyo recognized as the ones serving during the party, took a sleeping Kanade through the window.

"Go get help. Now." Kiyo ordered to Chikane who quickly nodded and made her way down the stairs towards the party hall. Kiyo turned towards the scene of attempted kidnapping and made her way towards them, hoping to distract them long enough to wait for help.

Yasashi made her way back from her room to the party with a small box in her hands. She had excused herself from Hana momentarily as she went to get the gift she had for her. She grinned, not being able to hold her anticipation to give it to Hana, when she came upon Diana being held against the wall, a knife against her neck, and Kiyo fighting against one of the waitresses.

Kiyo spotted the second-in-line to the throne of the Windbloom and panicked when she saw not one, but two of the woman going towards Yasashi. It was the same two who had taken Kanade through the balcony, meaning Kanade was out of reach now.

Dropping the box, Yasashi fought against one of the girls and found that it was more difficult that she had thought. These women were trained for this. A yelp from Yasashi caught Kiyo's attention once more, distracting her from her fighting, and saw Yasashi fall to the ground, a syringe stuck to her neck. While Yasashi had been distracted in her fight, the other woman had attacked her withatranquilizer causing Yasashi to immediately doze off.

Kiyo found herself doubling over in pain as in her distraction, the one she was fighting against kicked her in her stomach and as she doubled over, kicked her in the face, making her to crash against the wall with blood dripping from her nose. She looked up and found Diana and Yasashi, both unconscious, being carried towards the balcony. One of the girls came up to her, a syringe in hand, and Kiyo was soon enveloped in darkness.

Mika saw her team through the camera as they placed the four unconscious girls in the hovercraft that was designed for extremely stealthy missions. It made absolutely no sound and was unspotted by all radars.

"_Ready to go Mika-san." _Mika heard through her headset and smiled, "Okay, come back to base. Oh, and what happened to that girl who was going to get help?" she asked, remembering that one of her team had told her she had found a student running towards the hall, but she intercepted her.

"_Rei stopped her. She said she went a little too rough against her, but it was necessary since she had no shots with her" _The girl said as Mika saw the hovercraft rising over the building slowly before disappearing in a flash, _"but she was definitely stopped. The mission was a success, not to mention that we got more than what we came for." _

Mika sighed in relief, she had been worried over the mission but was glad that everything had gone without too much problem. Only a broken nose and a few bruises and scratches on her team, but it had all gone well overall.

-------

"Shizuru please listen to me." Natsuki pleaded as she followed the brunette out of the party hall. Shizuru did not stop on her way down the hall towards the staircase. "I have nothing to listen from you. Do you wish to tell me Kiyo is not my daughter also? Or perhaps how I'm just a peon to you, Headmaster?" Shizuru snapped back as she turned to Natsuki. The bluenette lowered her gaze, too ashamed to meet the crimson eyes upon her. "I'm…I'm sorry Shizuru." she murmured but Shizuru just turned and continued walking.

Natsuki sighed, thinking that it would be better to give her sometime and try again tomorrow. As she made her way back towards the party, she heard Shizuru's frantic voice calling her "Natsuki! Natsuki!"

The principal did not hesitate and ran towards the staircase where Shizuru's voice was coming from. She stopped on the landing as she saw Shizuru kneeling beside one of the students who was lying on the floor. Natsuki got near them and was able to recognize the girl as Chikane Saki, the newest student of the academy who had won the scholarship. Her dress was ripped on her shoulder, revealing a wound that considering the blood on the dress, had bleed greatly but was now beginning to clot. Various other minor scratches were on her shoulders and hands as if she had engaged in a fight with a knife holder. Bruises were beginning to appear on her shoulders and her face as well.

Shizuru looked up to meet her wife's emerald eyes that were full of shock and worry, "Call for help Natsuki."

Natsuki stumbled backwards and ran off towards the party hall. Her shock not allowing her to remember about her GEM or the communication system in it. She remembered seeing Kiyo with the student who was now laying unconscious on the stair case.

Kiyo was in trouble. She knew it. Natsuki had never been a big believer of superstitions, but now she was sure that her maternal "sixth sense" was telling her something was definitely wrong.

* * *

**A/N: Like it? Hate it? Tell me what you think. I hope you aren't confused of what's going on lol. I tried my best :P Please review :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: OMG! What is this! An update for THE NEXT GENERATION? NO WAY! Well...YES WAY! I'm sorry for the wait but here is the next installment of this story!**

**I would like to thank my new and VERY AMAZING Beta Reader, Silverveign for Betaing this! I dedicate this to you Silverveign!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**9**

"I must say I impressed Rika." Rika smiled upon hearing the words from her father. She could not remember hearing the words ever before in her life. "I am glad to have fulfilled your expectations father." She declared proudly.

Without another word, Rika's father walked out of the room where the girls laid in hospital beds unconscious. Rika waited a few seconds, hearing the distant footsteps of her father before turning to Mika and smiling, "Good job Mika."

Mika blushed and lowered her gaze, "No need to thank me." Rika bit her lip lightly, trying to control herself. She loved Mika, she really did. She wanted nothing more than to hug her, to kiss and hold her. But instead she turned and left the room. She would not give in to her desires, Mika was a good w:oman and deserved far more than she could offer.

Mika looked up and saw the doors close shut behind Rika. She waited momentarily before tapping her communicator.

"Rei-"

"_Yes Mika-sama?"_

"Come to the lab. The coast is clear to begin the test."

"_I'm on my way."_

Mika turned the communicator off. She knew that if she found her hypothesis to be true, Rika would be so grateful that she would have no choice but to admit her feelings for her. She turned and looked at the unconscious girls. _'At least one of y__ou will be the key. At least one.'_

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

"Please my Natsuki. Everything will be okay. We'll find the girls." Shizuru cooed as she held her tearful wife against her chest. Natsuki had held her strong front as they took Chikane to Yohko and tried finding as much as they could about what happened to the girls and who was responsible. She maintained the same semblance when informing the parents of the girls involved and trying to keep everything as hidden from public knowledge as possible, but she was now too weak.

Natsuki whimpered against Shizuru's warm neck, "Wh-what if we don't? What if they're…they're dea-"

"No." Shizuru interrupted her wife before she could finish, "That will not happen Natsuki. We'll find the girls and we will get them back safely. I promise you."

For Shizuru, making a promise she was unsure she could keep was amoral, yet she was also aware that Natsuki _needed _the reassurance. Their arguments were now forgotten in the face of the storm they faced. They were both conscious of the severity of the situation and that the only way they'd get through it would be together, just like they had gotten through all the other problems and tests they had experienced throughout their lives.

A knock was heard before Nao opened the door and walked in without waiting for acknowledgement. Following behind her was Nina.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Nina apologized mostly on Nao's behalf, realizing that her wife would never learn proper manners. Natsuki quickly jumped and tried getting to her feet but Nao just quirked an eyebrow at her, "Oh no please Natsuki. Don't get uncomfortable on _our_ behalf. We all know you're a cute whipped puppy so no need to try and keep appearances now." Natsuki glared at the red-head, not able to believe the red-head was able to annoy her even in the direst of circumstances, yet figuring that she should expect nothing less from Nao. Shizuru turned to Nina, "How is Saki-san?"

"She is stable. She will be back to normal within a few days, she just needs rest." Nina answered after having just checked on her student in the infirmary. "Well, at least we were able to control the situation and nobody in the party found out beside the parents of the four girls." Nao said trying to steer away from the fuming Natsuki, "Although from what I heard, Queen Mashiro was getting ready to send her army in a search."

"What? That would ruin our mission." Natsuki couldn't believe that although the Queen was already an adult, the foolishness of her younger years had yet to disappear completely. She understood her concern as a mother but she had agreed to let the school handle it. "Either way, Arika helped convince her to stop but she isn't one to hold out for long." Nina's words were a relief to the principal. She really didn't want Mashiro messing anything up. Natsuki had managed to keep the whole incident a secret and only those directly involved where notified, meaning the parents of the girls. Not even other students were told about it although some rumors had spread throughout the night.

"Anyways," Nao continued, "Both Chie and Arika have been contacted and are now on their way here. We should be set to go as soon as they arrive, but do you even know where we're going?" Natsuki rolled her eyes as she finished clearing away her tears, "Yes you stupid _stupid_ spider. I wouldn't form a rescue-force if I didn't."

Nao stared wide-eyed at the principal, "Damn, no need to be so mean about it." Shizuru cleared her throat, "What Natsuki meant to say was that Kanade's royal ring which she wears at all times has a tracking chip imbedded into the gold band, making it invisible to any device beside the King's and Queen's one of a kind tracking device that is a perfect match to the ring and cannot be deactivated in any way. In other words, the culprits won't know we are tracking them."

Both Nina and Nao nodded in understanding.

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

"What the hell are you doing?"

Rei looked up from admiring her new ring to meet the glaring eyes of the man who stood before her, his black uniform stark in contrast with her own white one. "What the hell does it look like I'm doing?"

Behind him were two other identically-uniformed men, but they were busy getting blood samples from the girls that laid unconscious on the table. She herself had done similar tests before they arrived but after Mika took the samples, she was left to "chill-out" until she was needed.

"Did you steal that from your boss? A rat like you couldn't afford something like that even if you sold your soul to the devil." He called out, stepping closer to the dark-haired woman who didn't respond, her eyes watching him with amusement, "Why don't you hand that over before I report you and you get your head cut off for being a thief."

As he reached out for the ring, she stood up in a flash and elbowed him on the back of the head, forcing him to go forward into the counter she was sitting at and slamming face-first into the hard surface. A cracking noise was heard followed by his scream of agony.

"You bitch! How dare you!" He said as blood ran down his face from the various busted and broken elements. She smirked, "Don't touch my things. Not that I owe you an explanation but if you _must _know, Mika-sama allowed me to keep the Princess' ring as a reward for my outstanding performance in our operation and because I'm her favorite employee. It's common knowledge really."

The two men who were now done getting the blood samples simply watched as the young woman walked out leaving their co-worker behind cursing to silent ears. "Move it. We have to get these back to Osamu-sama." One of the two said. The injured man growled but followed behind them as they left the room.

All three of them made their way to the elevator and within seconds found themselves in lab 3C. Although it was technically a lab, the room took the whole floor and was the deepest level in the entire underground compound. As they walked in with the small case that held the blood samples, they spotted Osamu standing beside a man in a white lab-coat discussing something that was in the screen.

"Osamu-sama." Osamu turned at the sound of his name. His grey eyes focused on the man who had spoken his name and held the recognized case in his hands. He completely ignored the other two. The man held out the case and Osamu took it promptly. He did not excuse them but simply turned back to the scientist beside him and handed him the case. The three men who had entered left unhesitatingly. Several years under Osamu's command had taught them enough to know their boss was a man of few words, but strong actions.

The scientist opened the case and inserted the first tube into the opening in the machine, and followed through in the same manner with the rest. After a few minutes the machine beeped and the screen was filled with DNA and other similar information. Osamu, not being an ignorant in the science of DNA, read over the information with a content feeling growing within him.

"Proceed with the extraction of the strands." Osamu ordered in a calm voice before turning towards the open area in the center of the vast room. A circular machine stood there with several rods extruding from its sides. "We will begin the summoning process afterwards," He smiled triumphantly, "and start the attack tonight."

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

Fujino held her breath as she quietly opened the door to her room and stepped out, closing it behind her without a noise. Once safely outside, she released it before breathing in deeply. Ruby was already asleep and she did not wish to disturb her friend.

Making her way quietly through the halls, she remained undiscovered until she reached the Pearl hall. As she walked towards her sisters' room, she felt a soft tap on her shoulder. Spinning around swiftly, heart pounding in fear she had been caught by Miss Maria, she was immensely relieved when she saw Yuuki holding a cup of what appeared chocolate milk in her hand.

Yuuki smirked, "You trying to go out on a little adventure again Fujino?" The youngest of the Kruger daughters shook her head nervously. "No no no. I was going to see Duri-oneechan. I wanted to talk to her." Yuuki's smirk turned into a sincere smile, "Fine, come with me. I was on my way there too. Your sister cannot sleep and I offered some chocolate milk. I heard warm drinks help people sleep." Although Fujino had attempted to kill her and was responsible for what happened to Duri, Yuuki was unable to hold it against her since she knew how strong the Titan power could be when the user was not prepared for it.

Fujino returned the red-head's smile, "Thank you."

Duri's wheelchair was facing the balcony and with her back to the door, she did not see Fujino accompanying Yuuki when the door opened. Yuuki went around Duri to face her and extended the glass towards her with a grin. Duri sighed, "Yuuki, before you left I recall being clear in explaining to you that the sugar in the chocolate mix would make it more difficult for me to fall asleep instead of helping."

Yuuki frowned, "Just give it a try. I went willingly, trying to be a good girlfriend and helping you out, yet you refuse my kindness. How cruel!" Duri rolled her eyes at the red-head's lame attempt at acting, "Please, that won't work on me. I know you for far too long and far too well."

Fujino could not keep a giggle from escaping her upon watching the young couple's interactions. Duri froze, and spun around immediately to find her younger sister standing there. "Fuji-chan…"

"Onee-chan!" Fujino fell to her knees before her sister; tears running down her face as the mirth of before completely disappeared after once more seeing her sister's wine orbs upon her, "Please forgive me! I never meant to hurt you Onee-chan. You know I love you and Kiyo both so much, yetit was _me_ who caused you this pain. It's my fault you're like this!"

Seeing her sister crying caused Duri's eyes to become glazed with tears as well. She didn't find her sister at fault yet she appreciated the fact that Fujino cared enough about her to apologize for something that was ultimately out of her control. After a few minutes of more apologies and tears from Fujino, the room went silent; Yuuki remained on the balcony as she allowed the two sibling's time to talk.

"Fujino, you have nothing to apologize for. It was not your fault since you were not conscious of your actions so please don't beat yourself up for it." Duri's voice was calm as she pulled her sister up for a hug, "I have nothing to forgive you for."

"What the hell!"

The two sisters turned towards Yuuki who was in the balcony. The red-head turned towards them, eyes wide with shock, "Look! There's something really weird outside!"

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

Osamu's eyes were focused intently in the center of the platform where the machine's numerous rods were pulled together into its own center and now a bulbous figure of energy was forming.

"Second portal pod 80% complete."

The scientist beside Osamu who was in control of the procedure, reported every so often to keep his boss informed of every single detailed. A couple minutes later the bulbous figure took the definite shape of an ellipse and remained floating above the rods.

"Second portal pod 100% complete. Coordinates set. Launching now."

The rods separated momentarily before a blast of energy from within the machine sent the pod away through opened space atop the compound.

Osamu watched as the third, fourth, and fifth portal pods were sent out while the sixth pod was kept in the compound as it would not be summoned in the same manner as the others.

With all the pods in place, Osamu took a deep breath and tried his hardest to embed the glorious moment into his memory. _'This is it. First Windbloom, and then the world.'_

"Begin the summoning."

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

By now the entire Garderobe academy was awake as students and staff alike watched the rare energy forms that stood outside. Moments after the first one appeared, a second identical form appeared a few feet away from it. Natsuki had a bad feeling about the pods, memories from the Yuna Incident that had occurred years ago flooding into her mind.

It also seemed that Shizuru shared her worries, "The pods remind me of what happened with the creatures that appeared out of the plant-like forms from Yuna." Natsuki's attention was intent on her wife, "could it be the same thing again?"

"I doubt it." Nina cut it, "I am sure that Arika and I destroyed Yuna. There's no way it would come back." Nao merely nodded. "Whatever it is, we have to go inspect it." Natsuki decided as she activated her robe, "Nao, come with me."

Nao activated her robe and followed the principal while Shizuru and Nina went to the dorm halls.

"What do you think this is?" Natsuki asked as she walked around the mass. Random sparks of energy floated inside but only momentarily. "I don't know," Nao replied as she decided to poke it with a branch she found in the ground. At the touch, the mass seemed to recoil in an almost life-like manner. "Stop it Nao!" Natsuki swatted the red-head's hand away, "It's dangerous. You can't just go around poking things, you know."

Before Nao could retort, the mass began to glow just like its twin that stood a few feet away. "Damn it Nao, look what you did!" Natsuki pulled Nao back as they retreated from the growing mass that began to spin faster and faster until it molded into a thin donut-shape and various sparks of electricity flew out from it. "Shouldn't you shoot it or something?" Nao asked when the two masses began to grow in size as well.

"I-" Natsuki was interrupted when an extremely familiar metal paw emerged from the mass.

Not believing her eyes, Shizuru had to lean against the rail of the balcony where she stood with Duri, Fujino, Yuuki and Nina. While Natsuki stood shocked at what was appearing from the mass closest to her, Shizuru's crimson eyes were locked with the one closer to her where the distinct figure of one of Kiyohime's head was now in full view.

A few seconds later, Duri watched in awe as two creatures stood in front of the school, one fashioned in the shape of a metallic wolf with large cannons on its back. The other one appeared to resemble the mixture of a hydra and a squid, its five heads were squirming around in different directions, as if confused of where they were.

The memories that had been discovered years back during the attack against Tate came rushing back as Natsuki and Shizuru once again saw their CHILDs. Natsuki realized immediately that Duran was not his normal size; instead it was the same size it had been back when she had fought Shizuru.

Natsuki watched as Duran scanned the immediate area, and upon setting sight of her, she was able to see his eyes were different than what she remembered. They were dark and hollow. Neither he nor Kiyohime recognized their masters.

A high pitched sound rang through the air and the two CHILDs attacked.

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

Mika walked into Lab 3C with Rei in tow and approached Rika. The woman stood beside her father as they watched the screen where the monsters were in process of attacking Windbloom.

"Rika, may I have a word with you?"

Rika turned at the sound of her name and found Mika standing there with Rei a few steps behind. "What do you need?" She asked, not wanting to be interrupted from sharing this rare moment with her father as he stood full of pride and accomplishment as the monsters began to tear apart the city.

"I need to speak with you in private." Mika responded, her tone urgent. Rika sighed, "Can it not wait? As you can see I'm busy at the moment."

"It's about Neliel." Mika's words grabbed Rika's full attention. From the corner of his eye Osamu watched his daughter walk off to the side with Mika.

"What is it?" Rika asked urgently.

"After examining the girls' blood and the level of nano-machines and their density, we found that Kiyo Kruger is most compatible with Neliel as her nano-machines have the most density thanks to her two Otome mothers." Mika explained,  
"With a few transfusions in small doses we should be able to cure Neliel completely."

While the two women spoke, Rei spotted Osamu calling some of his men towards him and then motioning towards his daughter and Mika. Realizing he must've heard them, and as Mika feared, didn't agree, she decided to leave the lab before anyone noticed her. Luckily nobody spotted her as she left.

Rika could not believe what Mika was telling her. The mere thought of having her daughter in her arms healthy once again had been a distant dream for her, but before she could say anything, one of her father's men came up behind Mika and pulled her roughly as he pressed a gun to her neck. Rika's eyes widened but at the same time she also felt the cold metal in her exposed neck. "What do you think you're doing? Let us go!" Rika tried struggling but her arms were pulled against her and with each struggle the pain became greater.

"There is no other way Rika." Osamu spoke as he approached his daughter, "You forget that I have the entire compound under strict surveillance. I cannot and _will not _allow those blood transfusions to occur. It would put the entire operation at risk of failing and that is unacceptable."

"Isn't Neliel's life more important than some stupid operation? She is your granddaughter!" Rika exclaimed bitterly as she met her father's colorless eyes. Osamu shrugged, "I never approved of your union to that woman nor the result of it. The fact that I allow you to keep that child here is because I rather not have to deal with your foolish attitude if I were to do so otherwise. Therefore I know not of what "grandchild" you speak of."

Intense rage exploded within Rika but she was unable to do anything. Osamu turned back to see how everything was going with his monsters while his men took the two prisoners away.

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

"Hurry! Hurry!" Miss Maria called as she guided the students to the safety of a shelter underneath Garderobe. Meanwhile the Meister Otomes fought aggressively to protect the Academy. Within a couple minutes of the creatures appearing, they began to attack the building and had already destroyed the right wing of the dorm hall, which was empty since all the students had gathered together in the center of the dorm hall to watch what was going on. While Natsuki and Nao fought against Duran, Shizuru and Nina struggled to keep all five of Kiyohime's heads from attacking the school while the girls were taken by Miss Maria to safety.

"_YOHKO WHAT IS GOING __ON?" _

Natsuki's voice was nervous and followed by several grunts as the large creature repeatedly fired at her with its cannons. The Principal was able to avoid most of them but had to take some of them in order to protect the school. Her robe's defenses were lowering by the minute.

"Hang on Natsuki, I'm running a scan on the two creatures but have yet to find anything in our database that explains what brought them here." Yohko explained to the Principal over the GEM system, "Also, there are three other similar creatures spread over Windbloom. One is attacking Queen Mashiro's castle and the other two are attacking the Aries and Cardair Embassies."

A few seconds passed without response before Natsuki's voice came in again, _"Damn it! Who is protecting the__m?"_

Yohko glanced at her screen quickly to see the current powered Otomes, "Arika Yumemiya is protecting the Castle. Chie and Haruka are protecting Aries Chancery while Maya and Sarah are currently on their way to the Cardair Chancery. Delta team is protecting it at the moment."

After hearing Yohko's report, Natsuki flew over towards Nao who was attempting to rip off one of Duran's cannons while the creature spun wildly trying to get her off him, "Nao! There are other three creatures like this!" Nao nodded, "Yea! I heard Yohko's report. It was open. I'm sure the others heard. Haruka must be having one hell-of-a blast with them huh?"

"Shut up, Nao. This isn't the time. We have to get rid of them!" Natsuki turned to spot Shizuru farther away with Nina as they had managed to make Kiyohime follow them away from the building.

"Natsuki watch out!"

Natsuki turned just in time to see the brightness of the explosion from the cannon coming at her, but she was unable to move fast enough.

Minutes earlier Duri, Yuuki and Fujino had managed to sneak away from Miss Maria and had reached the Principal's office in no time. "Oneechan, are you sure we won't get in trouble?" Fujino asked as she looked around her mother's office while Duri wheeled over to the desk. "You didn't have to come with us Fujino." Duri replied without looking up as she reached for the drawers.

Fujino frowned but remained silent.

"Hey Yuuki, mind giving me a hand?" Duri asked and the red-head approached her quickly. "Mind opening this for me?" The bluenette asked as she pointed to the locked drawer, "If I know my mom as well as I know I do, she wouldn't go through the trouble of putting the GEMs in the safe."

"Sure thing." Yuuki grinned and kneeled down to pick the lock with a hair pin she _always _carried with her. Just in case. The drawer opened within a few seconds and Yuuki handed Duri the case. "Oneechan, what are you planning to do?" Fujino asked as she walked behind the desk. "You see that?" Duri asked as she pointed outside through the large glass wall where Natsuki and Nao could be seen fighting against the monster, Nao trying to rip the cannon off while Natsuki hovered a few feet away.

"If we don't do something now, we could lose trace of Kiyo and the rest of them. As you can see they're busy with those creatures. We have to do something." Duri explained before opening the case, the GEMs glittering with the reflection of the light. "Yuuki." She handed the GEM to the girl who quickly placed it in her earring. The two had already talked about this and were sure that Yuuki could handle the Titan Materialization by now. Duri also took her own GEM.

"Oneechan, you haven't used the Titan Materialization." Fujino exclaimed as she saw Duri placing the GEM on her own earring. "Don't worry Fujino, I trust that I will be able to handle it. Either way, I've already talked with Yuuki and she will deactivate my GEM if necessary. From what we heard from Yohko-san, my contract will be to Yuuki and she is the only one capable of deactivating it without the use of force."

"You ready Yuuki?"

Yuuki nodded and kneeled before Duri. Since her emotions were not wild like the last time she had activated the robe, she needed direct certification from her contract. Duri kissed the GEM activating the Titan Robe as she activated the materialization. She felt lightheaded for a few seconds before she quickly regained her full senses.

"Yuuki, you're okay?" Duri asked, worried when she saw her girlfriend close her eyes for longer than usual. "Yea, yea. I'm cool. Just felt a little lightheaded for a sec there, but I'm okay now." Yuuki asserted with a grin. Duri nodded, "Okay, now my turn."

Yuuki leaned in to kiss Duri's own GEM.

'_Blood.'_

'_Why is there so much blood everywhere?' Duri tried turning sideways to escape the sight of it but all she saw was blood smeared on the green pasture. Farther away she could hear loud explosions. She could also hear the loud shrilling screams of girls lost in a sea of blood forced to fight against their classmates, friends, and sometimes even their lovers._

_The sky above was dark, and thunder threatened those underneath its massive reign. _

'_Why must you kill?' She asked the lonely wind, and a single response returned._

_It is the duty of an Otome._

"Duri!"

Duri awoke in a startle, her heart pounding loudly. "Duri, Duri, Are you okay? Please tell me something," Yuuki begged as she held the girl against her. Duri pushed away lightly, "I'm okay Yuuki. Calm down." She was unsure of what had happened but shrugged it off as a dream. Her mind was hazy but as she stood up, she realized she was able to move on her own.

Fujino and Yuuki both watched with amazement as the Pearl stood up without a problem. They had been extremely worried when Duri fainted as the materialization took place. It had been a few long seconds before she regained consciousness. Duri stretched and was in awe as she saw her robe looked very similar to Natsuki's apart from a few small details. The major change was the fact that her robe was not blue like Natsuki's, instead it was black with a crimson streak going all around the robe. She was also relieved to be in full use of her legs once again.

Before any of the girls could comment, the glass wall in the office shattered and the Principal's body landed inside with a loud crash.

"Mother!" Natsuki heard fain voices around her but it took her a while before she was able to tell who it was. She tried opening her eyes, but only saw blurry figures.

"Natsuki-kaachan!" Fujino tried calling but Natsuki remained unresponsive. Turning towards the outside, Duri saw the large creature aiming one of its cannons towards them while Nao tried unsuccessfully to turn it away. "Duri!" Yuuki called out as Duri flew off towards the monster's cannon which was beginning to shine brightly as it prepared for the shot.

Directly in the line of fire, she was willing to take as much of the damage she could to save her mother, sister, and Yuuki. Nao's screams to get away fell on deaf ears as Duran fired right as Duri got in point-blank range.

Duri felt a momentary wave of heat before her body was covered by a full-body armor that was activated by the imminent danger.

Natsuki came to her senses as she saw the explosion right upon her daughter and felt her heart stop. Seconds later she saw a figure grab Duran's cannon and rip it right off, causing the creature to howl in agony. Nao made her way towards her fallen comrade, "Natsuki! Are you okay?"

"Is that…Is that Duri?" She asked as she pointed at the figure that was in the process of removing Duran's second cannon. "Yes! I don't know what the hell happened! One second she's about to get blasted to oblivion and then the next she's got this badass armor that made her stronger or something." Nao explained since she had seen closely the transformation of the robe. Natsuki took Nao's hand and got up, "We have to help her." Nao nodded but Duri was already making her way to them.

"The creature is under control, I was able to neutralize it momentarily by removing its cannons but I'm unsure how long it will last." Natsuki nodded meekly as she observed not only her daughter's armor, but the fact that she was walking on her own. "You look like a Power Ranger Oneechan." Fujino commented playfully. Nao walked around the girl before reporting her analysis, "I was thinking more of like the Dragon Age Armor on Mass Effect 2 that I was playing last week, but whatever."

Duri chuckled lightly, "I don't know what it is but it saved my life and makes me stronger." Natsuki quickly shook her haze away, "I have to go help Shizuru before Duran attacks again."

"Mom, what about Kiyo and the others? We need to rescue them. Please give me a chance to go get them back." Duri pleaded. Natsuki shook her head, "No. I won't allow that."

"Come on Natsuki," Nao intervened, "We have to get the girls back before they are moved from location or something else happens. You can stay here while I take Yuuki and Duri with me to get them back. Duri has proved she has complete control of her robe and so has Yuuki. This is an emergency and the girls' rescue cannot be delayed."

Natsuki thought for a minute. She did realize that Duri's disability seemed to have no effect against the nano-machines working in overdrive with the Titan Materialization. Nao was a strong Meister and with two Titan Otomes to aid her, she knew that it could be done. "Fine," she relented, "I will leave the rescue operation in your hands Nao. Take Yuuki and Duri with you."

Nao smirked, "Good, otherwise we would've just gone without your permission you know." Natsuki ignored the comment and turned to Fujino, "I'm taking you to Miss Maria and the other students."

"But mom…"

"But nothing." Natsuki cut her off. Fujino frowned and followed after her mother.

"Okay girls," Nao said to the remaining two, "Let's go rescue our comrades."

* * *

**OMAKE**

**Nao**: Really? Dragon Age Armor from Mass Effect 2?

**Natsuki**: The spider is right for once…that was kind of an unexpected…development…

**Nao**: **IF** you can call it that.

**Ookami Z**:….sorry…my imagination isn't that good…specially with armors and things…and besides, that armor is pretty badass if you ask me.

**Natsuki**: But in an Otome? Otome's are like the Epitomes of grace and stuff like that.

**Nao**: By "stuff like that" she means lesbian stuff.

**Ookami Z**: I see…Well in my defense, in my mind the armor doesn't have the red dragon in the front and is more "slimming" to the female body. (To any of you wondering you should Google images of "Dragon Age Armor from Mass Effect 2" to get an idea of what I'm talking about :P )

**Duri**: I like it :)

**Ookami Z**: Thank you Duri! And THAT is why YOU are my favorite! I created you to be my favorite! *Grin*

**A/N: LOL, I hope you enjoyed this! I already have the next two chapters ready to be uploaded but I won't post unless you guys want me to! Which means review,review,review please! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**10**

Rika's glare intensified as the man's smirk did not disappear from his face. "What are you looking at?" She asked bitterly as she stalked towards the laser bars that barred her from freedom. His smirk widened, "I'm just trying to enjoy watching a stuck-up bitch like you in a cage. Always looking down on others and now look at you. Even your own father turned against you."

Gritting her teeth, Rika did not reply to the guard's comment. He was right as far as she could tell. She had learned to not trust others early in life, growing up without a mother and with a father that was more than distant did that to person's soul. Her twin sister was the only one she trusted but after she left, Rika had felt completely alone. While Osamu's betrayal did not completely surprise her, it still hurt her.

The guard turned his attention to Mika after realizing, quite proudly, that Rika had remained silent. "And you, Rika's loyal dog, you're stuck there as well. Not even your own dog had your back. She disappeared at the first sign of danger. Man, now on days you can't trust anybody can ya'?"

Before Mika had a chance to say anything, both she and Rika flinched at the sound of a shot and watched as the guard clutched his stomach as blood began to flow freely. The two incarcerated women watched as Rei stepped into view and walked towards the guard who had fallen to his knees and was grunting in pain. "Sorry for being late Mika-sama," Rei apologized calmly as she kicked the man in the face, causing him to fall backward, "But I'm here." The man tried making a move to his gun holster but was too slow as Rei made quick work of putting a bullet through his skull.

Mika grinned proudly towards Rika, "See? I told you she wouldn't leave us here." Rei heard Mika's comment as she kicked away some of the man's brain matter before reaching out to deactivate the laser bars, "Thank you for trusting me Mika-sama. When I saw Osamu motioning his guards, I figured I wouldn't stand a chance defending you both against them so I decided this was a better course of action."

"It definitely was." Mika said as she and Rika walked out of the cell. Rika's nose scrunched up as she saw the blood and pink gushy stuff sprayed around the man, "You could've been a little less messy about it." Rei shrugged, "It got the job done."

"He deserved it." Mika commented as they walked towards the elevator. Rika sighed, "True, but I think I got some of his brain on my boot."

-_TNG_-_TNG_-_TNG_-

"Will it sound wrong if I say I'm enjoying this a little bit too much?" Yuuki asked as she stopped to catch her breath after taking down five more guards that had stood in their way. Nao laughed, "Nope. It would only back up Nina's word that I'm actually your mother."

Duri walked up to the pair of red-heads with a scanning device in her armor-clad hand. She had opted to keep the armor on, saying it was for protection but secretly it was more because Yuuki had mentioned she looked like a "sexy super soldier" with it. The last part, of course, she would never admit out loud. "The scanner shows another wave of approximately ten men coming from that hall," she pointed at the west hall, "and five from the north. According to the tracker, my sister and the others should be farther down the north hall. If we hurry we can evade the larger group." Nao nodded, "Then let's move."

Whilst they were able to remain unnoticed by the compound's radar, as soon as they made their way inside and attacked the first guards, Osamu was informed of the breach and he ordered his men to attack and stop the Otomes at any cost.

Rei followed the two older women as they made their way towards the lab where the girls remained unconscious. The alarms were blaring and every few minutes a group of armed men ran by them. None of them seemed to notice them or just didn't care as their orders were strict in their objective. "I wonder why the alarm system went off," Rei wondered out loud.

"I'm not sure, but whatever the reason, it has been enough of a problem for all of these men to not have been able to control it by now." Mika said as she quickly entered the code into the keypad as they reached the lab. The doors slid open and the three women stepped inside. "Rei, grab Kiyo Kruger while I grab my equipment," Mika ordered as she went through the various counters. "Rika, meanwhile you need to go get Neliel and meet us in Platform 7 so we can leave on the hovercraft."

Rika nodded and went into the elevator inside the lab that connected directly to the platforms and lower levels where she could get to Neliel. While Rei made her way to collect the teenager, Mika checked the chart and panicked upon realizing that since they had been in the cell, the girls had not received the sedative they were supposed to get every couple of hours.

"Damn, she's heavier than she looks." Rei complained as she managed to grab a hold of the young woman bridal-style.

"That's all muscle that's about to kick your ass!"

Rei's eyes widened in shock when she failed to move out of the way of the teenager's fist as it landed in her face. "Damn it!" She dropped the girl to the ground and staggered backwards holding a hand to her face.

"Kiyo!" Kiyo's adrenaline pumped hard through her body as she turned towards the voice that had called her. Standing in the door was Nao, Yuuki, and an armored figure. "Iron-Man?" She asked with a mocking tone realizing that it was her sister. Ignoring the comment, Duri sighed in relief, "I'm glad to see you alive Kiyo."

Kiyo grinned, momentarily forgetting about the woman whom she had just punched, "Where'd you get the iron-man suit?" Duri did not answer as she suddenly spotted a blonde woman appear out of nowhere and grabbed Kiyo forcefully, a syringe pressing dangerously into her neck.

"Do not struggle or I will inject this into your system and you will be dead within seconds." Mika warned as she held the stiff Kiyo with her back against her. She had stayed behind a large cabinet when she saw Kiyo attack Rei and quickly grabbed a syringe that was in her lab coat pocket and decided to take action. They were so close to achieving their goal and she wouldn't let anything stop them.

"Let my sister go." Duri's voice was dangerously calm as she took a step forward. Rei walked up beside Mika with her gun pointed to Kiyo's head, "One more step and you're going to wish Mika-sama had killed your sister with the poison instead of me blowing her brains out."

Yuuki saw Duri's fist clench as the dark-haired woman, whose nose was bleeding, kept the gun pointed to Kiyo. The brunette could not do anything as she was stuck between death and death.

By now Diana, Kanade, and Yasashi were regaining consciousness as they sat up on the beds. "What's going on?" Yasashi asked as she looked around the room, her sight slightly blurry. "Kiyo!" Diana called in horror as she saw the situation the brunette found herself in. Kanade got off of the bed, "What is going on?"

"Shit." Mika muttered as she saw the other girls were now awake as well. "Let's go." Rei shook her head, "No Mika-sama, you go on and I'll make sure they don't follow you."

"But-" Mika was about to argue since she knew the woman stood no chance against the Otomes with only a pistol. "Go Mika-sama." Rei reassured her with a smile. Mika sighed and took Kiyo into the elevator.

Rei turned back and saw Nao coming at her but she managed to evade her, "Nao-chan, you are so predicatable." Nao quirked a brow, "Nao-_chan_?"

"Don't you remember me Nao-chan?" The dark-haired woman asked as she kept her gun pointed at the red-head, "I know a lot of years have passed but surely you would've remembered your favorite cousin ne'?"

"Rei?" Nao asked confusedly, "That can't be…" As she inspected the woman closer, she was able to catch a glimpse of mirth in the russet eyes, one that was too familiar as it brought her back to her childhood and teenage years, "But, everyone thought you were dead." Nao took a deep breath, keeping the tears back, "You disappeared…where did you go?"

"That's not important now. I have a job to do." From the corner of her eye, Rei saw the girl who looked very much like a younger Nao and realized she had take advantage of Nao talking to her to get over to the girls who had just woken up. "We have a job too, and that's to stop you." The voice caught Rei's attention but within a second she found herself pinned against the wall by the armored Otome, her gun flying right off her hand with her feet dangling under her as Duri held her by her shirt. Nao could hear the furious tone that laced the girl's voice right before she pinned Rei. Moving towards her, she placed a hand on Duri's shoulder, "Don't hurt her, Duri. We need to get your sister now."

Duri did not think twice and released the woman before leaving after Kiyo. Rei looked up to find her cousin's extended hand, and could not help a surge of anger overcome her. Gritting her teeth, she bolted up and moved towards the cabinet. Nao was unsure of what action to take as her long-lost cousin dumped various items on the ground before extracting a small black box from it. Rei took a few steps away from the Otome, "You have a family, a position many would kill to have, and just by looking at you, seeing the happiness you posses, makes me hate you."

Yuuki and the rest of the girls stood silently as the woman, whom Yuuki realized was her aunt if what she had heard was true, grew furious towards a confused Nao. "What are you saying Rei?" The column asked as she stepped towards her cousin, now growing worried as Rei opened the box and produced a small controller form the inside. "I have a job Nao," Rei's voice was soft and weirdly calm, "And I have to do it."

Pressing the code that Mika had instructed her, Rei activated the system of various mines and other explosives that Rika had placed around the compound to ensure that when the moment came, she would be able to have the upper hand on her father and destroy the compound. The mines were placed strategically so that when they went off, the compound's support structures would be blow away and the compound would be buried underneath the massive weight of the unsupported earth above.

Nao's lime eyes pierced through Rei, "What have you done?"

"You have three minutes to get out of here unless you want to get buried alive." Rei threw Nao a small chip, which the red-head caught effortlessly, "Take this to operate one of the hovercrafts and escape. I was ordered to blow up the compound if anything like this ever happened, but they didn't say I couldn't save anyone."

"What about you?" Yuuki asked as she stepped forward to Rei, "You must come with us." Rei did not meet her niece's eyes, "I can't go."

"Oh damn it, we don't have time for this." Nao's voice was laced with annoyance and before Rei could do anything, darkness enveloped her.

Duri's heart pounded loudly against her chest. She could feel the blood pumping through her veins in an ill attempt to escape the adrenaline that coursed through her body. She reached the platform and spotted the blonde scientist that pulled Kiyo roughly towards a hovercraft. She could see her sister struggling slightly but giving up when the syringe prodded her neck.

Although she was not entirely aware of the powers of her robe, she had learned earlier that instead of materializing a singular-predetermined weapon, she was able to manipulate the photons around her into either solid objects, be it a wide range of weapons, or use the raw power and energy in them to create pure-energy missiles and such.

Moving her hands closer to her, she summoned the energy and within seconds of focusing on the density and trajectory of the energy mass, she launched it at the craft.

Mika jumped back from the exploding hovercraft and fell on her back. Kiyo took this chance to get away from the scientist. Duri appeared by her side, pulling her away from Mika who was in the process of regaining her footing. "Are you okay?" Duri asked worriedly, afraid the explosion had been too large and had hurt her sister. "Yea, I'm okay. "Kiyo replied truthfully.

Shaken with fury, Rika was unsure of what to do. She had heard the tintinnabulation coming from the compound speakers that she knew would only activate if Rei had set the bombs to go off. She knew that by now, she would have less than two minutes to escape if she wanted to make it out alive. Mika looked up to see her, and as their eyes met in that instant, defeat and disappointment coursed through that brief instant were they knew it was over.

Nao and the others reached the platform and saw a lone hovercraft while the other one was still in flames. Duri turned to them and Nao was relieved to see Kiyo beside her. Kiyo motioned to her sister as they saw Rika standing there with a child in her arms. Something told Nao she knew the woman, that she had seen Rika before but she was unable to place her thoughts on exactly who she was thinking about. She had little time in her hands and knew that all of their lives were in danger.

Mika turned to the Otomes and realized that Nao Zhang carried an unconscious Rei in her arms. Her gaze moved to the three girls whom they had kidnapped, their eyes wide in shock at what was going on around them. Kiyo Kruger stayed by her sister's side while Yuuki Zhang stayed close to her mother. In that brief instant, Mika realized the painful truth that she had been denying all those years. They were happy because they had each other, a family of individuals who chose to willingly protect and love each other no matter what.

"_They have something I have longed for all these years. How ironic that in my final moments I realized how much time I have wasted."_

Down the hall, Rika could hear the heavy sprinting steps of her father's soldiers. Osamu did not know what the soft ringing of bells meant, but by now he had probably figured something was wrong. The last hovercraft had a limited capacity and she knew there was no fighting against the Otomes. Rika ran towards the blonde scientist and then the two approached the Otomes who were making their way to the hovercraft while Duri watched their back. Duri stiffened when the two women approached them but Kiyo motioned her sister not to worry. Kiyo could see that something had changed in their eyes. As the two women walked towards them, they looked down to the child in Rika's arms and a gentle love had replaced the anger and hatred that had been visible before. Kiyo thought back and remembered where she had seen a look like that. She remembered her own mothers as they sat quietly by the bed of Duri when she was unconscious. Kiyo reached out and put a hand on her sister's shoulder, she knew the love of two parents when she saw it.

"Please take Neliel with you. She had no fault in this." Rika's voice began to break. She tried to be strong but it was a futile attempt. She gazed down to her daughter's sleeping face and saw a soft smile gracing her lips. Neliel slept as only a child can, free from the knowledge that the world is a cruel place. After placing Rei in the hovercraft, Nao turned to the woman, "We won't leave you here. Surely we can fit somehow." Yuuki raised an eyebrow, surprised that her mother was trying to save the women who had kidnapped her friends and who were guilty of everything that had happened. Nao glanced at her daughter but said nothing. She herself was as surprised as her daughter, but she knew deep down why she was doing it. She had learned in her life that everyone deserves a second chance. However it isn't often that fate allows us that chance to make amends to those we have wronged. Nao of all people knew how rare those chances were, and if she could create one here, she would.

Rika shook her head, "You must hurry," she handed Neliel over to Nao who grabbed the child tenderly, "There is no space and I must stay here to make sure my father does not escape." Mika took a hold of Rika's now-free hand to show her support before speaking up, "We will amend for what we did by ending Osamu's reign. There is only one way."

The sound of bells grew increasingly loud, signaling that mere seconds remained before the explosion. The metal door that barred Osamu's men from entering was being attacked by the soldiers and it would be a matter of moments before they achieved their goal of entering. Mika quickly activated the hovercraft and set the coordinates so it would take them back to Garderobe. She did not mention anything about the creatures since she knew that once the command center was demolished, they would no longer have enough power to stay in the dimension. If that failed, the girls whose DNA was taken to summon them would be able to defeat the creatures without a problem.

"Hurry please," Rika ushered them into the hovercraft. Nao sighed but said no more. She could tell the women were serious about not leaving and wanting to make up for their mistakes. If this was how they wanted to atone, she could do nothing about it. Mika placed a small chip on Nao's hand as the Otome boarded the craft, "Use this to save Neliel please."

The motor of the craft roared to life and within seconds, it was on its way to Garderobe Academy.

**-Review please? :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'd like to thank you all for the wonderful feedback for this story. Don't worry, I have not forgotten my children in TNG :) I'd like to thank a special someone who left me the longest review ever and reminded me that there are still people who care about my writing and who actually look forward to reading this. Thank you bisvn2008 :) I dedicate this chapter to you :)**

**And of course, I'd like to thank Silverveign for editing this. You're the greatest Beta EvA!**

Enjoy :)  


* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mai-Otome/Mai-HiME. Sunrise Does. I do claim ownership for my original characters and my story.**

**Mai-Otome: The Next Generation**

**11**

_As the hovercraft speed away, they all turned and were able to catch a glimpse from the compound as the explosion started. Loud thunder-like sound echoed through the area as the mines went off and the land began to slide into the hollows of the underground building that was at that very moment being turned into a mass grave for the countless lost souls._

Kiyo's eyes fluttered opened. The sunlight that shone on her face burned her eyes which she quickly closed. She turned towards the comforting darkness and heard a light giggle. She squirmed again, trying to get comfortable and realized that her pillow was rather warm. Not pillow-like warm.

Natsuki's smile mirrored Shizuru's own as Kiyo finally sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her emerald eyes scanned the room and realized she was not in her dorm. Instead, they were all in Natsuki's office. Duri remained asleep on one end of the large couch while Fujino slept with her head atop Natsuki's lap. Kiyo herself had been sleeping in similar fashion atop Shizuru's lap on the opposite couch. "Good morning sleepy-head." Shizuru quipped with a smile as Kiyo simply fell back down on her mother's lap. Kiyo yawned, "What time is it?"

"It is about noon." Shizuru replied as she stroked her daughter's cheek lovingly. It had been a few hours ago that it had all ended. Now it seemed almost surreal. Like a nightmare from which they had finally awoken from.

Just as the hovercraft had landed on Garderobe, the CHILDs ceased their attack and suddenly disappeared. It had been as if they had turned into dust, disintegrating into the air. Natsuki and the rest of them had rushed over to the craft to welcome the girls. Everyone was reunited with their family and friends and needless to say, it had been an emotional reunion. With the fighting at an end, and the seemingly impossible task of repairing the campus looming ahead, everyone found a comfortable spot and gave in to exhaustion.

Natsuki knew the CHILDs had destroyed about a third of the entire Academy and that there would probably be many issues to deal with within the next few days but her mind was currently preoccupied with enjoying her family being together once again.

The voices awoke Duri from her slumber. She sat up and stretched, her back showing painful discontent with the lack of a proper bed. "Duri, how are you feeling?" Natsuki did not hide the concern in her voice. "I'm fine," Duri sat on the couch and quickly realized that her legs no longer felt numb. She touched her right leg, her index finger lingering on her knee as she attempted to stand up. Her heart raced and a smile appeared on her face as she realized that she once again had full control of her legs.

Both Natsuki and Shizuru smiled contently. Yohko had checked the girls when they had arrived before they took a nap and had informed them that Duri had indeed regained mobility of her legs once again even without the robe on. Duri twirled in awe, "I can't believe it! I don't have my robe yet I can move!"

"Yohko said that the Titan Materialization caused your nanomachines to overheat and in the process, be able to heal you up completely." Shizuru explained as in her lap, Kiyo was staring at her sister, "Seems like the iron-man suit fixed you up."

Duri's eyes narrowed in a chilling glare, "It is not an IRON-MAN SUIT."

Kiyo smirked, "Is too!"

Natsuki cleared her throat, "Hush you two. You'll wake your sister up." At this Fujino's eyes snapped open as she smiled up to Natsuki's emerald orbs. Natsuki grinned, "Good morning Fuji-chan. How'd ya sleep?"

In the background, Kiyo and Duri resumed their childish arguing and kept going back and forth while Shizuru watched with amusement. Any other day she would've had them both quiet down by now but neither she nor Natsuki felt the need to. It had been quite a long time since they had spent a moment like this. The anger and any other hurt feelings that existed before were now gone, washed away by the overwhelming joy of being together once again.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

After sending the girls back to their dorms to shower and get ready for the day, Natsuki and Shizuru had been called by Yohko who requested their presence down at the lab as soon as possible.

Natsuki rubbed her palms together anxiously. Anyone who didn't know the Principal would've guessed the woman was merely cold, yet whilst it was chilly in the air conditioned building, Natsuki was not cold. Shizuru glanced at her wife as they walked side by side and gently took one of her hands in her own, "Why are you so nervous Natsuki?"

Shizuru's warm hand caused a feeling of comfort to surge through Natsuki. The headmistress glanced down, "I don't know. It's just so many things to deal with, you know? Not only is the academy a complete mess but with what happened, if the council wanted to shut us down, they would have no problem doing it. Heck, even Mashiro could shut us down if she wanted to and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "

Pulled into a sudden stop by Shizuru, Natsuki felt her wife's warm fingers grazing her cheek as Shizuru turned her cheek to face her, "I will be by your side no matter what happens Natsuki. We've gotten through worst remember? Please stop worrying about it." Shizuru' eyes were locked with Natsuki's emerald orbs. "What Gardeobe needs right now," Shizuru continued, "Is a strong Natsuki who can get everything back to normal, and I know that as hard as it might seem right now, you are capable of bringing the academy back to its glorious splendor."

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

In the lab, Ryoko watched as her mother worked like a bee through exhaustion. Yohko had gotten no sleep as she had to take care of the young girl whom Nao brought in and trying to decipher what exactly the information in the chip that Nao gave her meant.

Yohko turned to her daughter who was sitting atop a counter, "Ryoko, please go check on Rei-san. She should be waking up soon." Ryoko nodded and jumped off the counter, "Okay." Yohko returned to the computer where she was reading various files. "Oh, and Ryoko," Ryoko turned back at the sound of her mother's voice, "Be careful okay? Nao said she is dangerous."

Ryoko smiled, "Don't worry mom."

As she exited the lab, Ryoko met the Principal and the Archmeister. "Good morning Ryoko-chan." Shizuru greeted while Natsuki acknowledged her with a light nod of her head. "Good morning Shizuru-san, Natsuki-san." Ryoko greeted before they each continued to their destinations.

Yohko heard the light footsteps approaching and looked up to see the couple making their way towards her. Without bothering with pleasantries, she went right to the point, "She will die if we don't perform a blood transfusion as soon as possible." Natsuki and Shizuru both turned to look at the young girl who laid in a bed nearby with life-support equipment as her last lifeline. Without missing a beat, Yohko continued, "According to the files that Nao gave me, Kiyo is the only one who is compatible with her. She is the only way this child has a chance of surviving."

"Kiyo?" Natsuki's brows furrowed, "Why Kiyo? I don't see why we should trust what some terrorists say." Shizuru was also worried, "Yohko-san, have you confirmed this information?" Yohko nodded, "I ran some tests on the girl earlier, and comparing it to the information on the database, what the files say is true."

Shizuru placed a hand on Natsuki's shoulder, "If it is what it takes to save the girl's life, then we cannot do anything about it. I am sure Kiyo won't have a problem with donating some of her blood to save the girl. As Otomes, you know our duty is to protect others, and Kiyo knows this as well."

Natsuki sighed and turned to Yohko, "Prepare everything for the transfusion then. I'll go get Kiyo." Yohko nodded and began to prepare the equipment. Shizuru stayed behind and walked closer to Yohko, "Yohko-san, what happened with the woman that Nao brought in?"

"She has been moved to a room with two Pearl students watching outside as guards. Nao said she was dangerous and she had to knock her out to be able to bring her with them. Also, after reviewing the security tapes from inside the building, it seems like she was the one who attacked Chikane Saki in the stairwell." Yohko reported briskly without stopping from setting up the computer. A young girl's life was in her hands, and she had to move quickly.

"I see..." Shizuru knew Yohko was busy and decided to leave her alone.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

Ryoko walked up to the room where the woman was being kept and saw that the two Pearl students seemed rather distressed. One of them stepped forward, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you Ryoko-san." The girl's nervous tone worried Ryoko, "What's wrong?"

"She regained consciousness and has gone mad. She is slamming and throwing stuff around," the other student explained. Ryoko nodded, "Thank you for the warning, but I must check on her." The two students hesitated before moving out of the way.

Rei looked up to the door when she heard it open and saw a girl walking inside. She couldn't have been more than five years younger than her. Ryoko could feel the chilling glare on her as she closed the door behind her. Turning to the woman she saw the pair of lime eyes staring at her. She resembled Nao closely except for the hair color and she could see how they were cousins.

"Good morning Rei-san. How are you feeling?" Ryoko asked as she glanced around and realized the bedside table was split into pieces on the ground. Rei's eyes narrowed, "How do you think I'm feeling? I'm being held like a damn prisoner!" Ryoko sighed, "Well, you are responsible for hurting one of the students directly and have links with the terrorist group that caused quite a great deal of damage, and let's not forget, you took part of the kidnapping of four students as well. So if this feels like a prison, you now know why."

Rei's glare intensified. Was this why Nao saved her? To bring her to a school filled with sassy girls who would rub everything she had done in her face? To turn her in and get her sent to jail? "Now, I need to examine you." Ryoko said as she stepped towards Rei. Somehow, she was not scared of the "dangerous" woman. "Are you some kind of doctor?" Rei asked as the young woman looked through her chart. "My mother is and I have quite a lot of experience. So in a way, yes. Besides, all I'm doing is checking you. Nao-san had to knock you out in order to bring you here, so we just need to make sure you have no other problems."

Rei muttered something under her breath but Ryoko missed most of it, although it was something along the lines of _"Damn Nao." _

A light shiver ran down Rei's spine as Ryoko's cold fingertips grabbed her arm. As Ryoko checked for the woman's pressure, she realized her heart beat's speed increased rapidly. She took a step back, "Is something the matter Rei-san?"

Rei huffed and turned away, feeling a light blush creeping to her cheeks, "Your hands are cold."

"Oh sorry," Ryoko apologized and rubbed her hands together, "My hands tend to be cold most of the time, I'm sorry." Rei made a grumbling noise but said nothing to the girl. Ryoko moved once again towards the woman and used one of her hands to cup Rei's chin lightly, turning her to check to see if her fractured nose would need any more treatment. A small grin made its way to Ryoko's lips when she realized the woman was blushing and her eyes were wide at the close proximity.

At that moment, the door opened and a smiling Irina walked in, but her smile dropped when she saw the two so close and the prisoner blushing while Ryoko smiled playfully. Ryoko looked up and saw Irina's crestfallen expression and while she felt the need to explain, she decided against it. After all, Irina never gave her proper explanation of why she rejected her. When Ryoko released her and stepped back, Rei released a breath she was unaware she was holding. She turned towards the door and saw a woman with rosy hair and glasses, her face showed a mixture of emotions ranging from jealousy, sadness, embarrassment, and disappointment. Looking back at Ryoko to look for an explanation, the young woman was turned towards the computer. "Irina-san, do you need something?"

Irina lowered her gaze, "Your mother sent me to check up on you to make sure you were okay. She was worried the prisoner would hurt you." Rei bolted up from the bed, "I'm not a dangerous animal damn it! Stop treating me like it!" Irina stood her ground as the slightly taller woman made her way towards her aggressively. She motioned around the room, "The broken objects in your room would beg to differ."

Irina's eyes narrowed when she saw Ryoko step towards the prisoner and put a hand on her shoulder. The woman stopped on her tracks and settled for glaring at her. "As you can see Irina-san, there is nothing for you to worry about. Everything is under control." Ryoko assured with a hint of malice in her voice, "If you would please leave now it would be better. Rei-san doesn't seem to appreciate your presence."

Rei smirked as she saw Irina's eyes widen in shock and hurt. "Oh I-I see. Excuse me." Irina stuttered nervously before turning and exiting the room quickly.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Rei returned to the bed and propped herself up against the headrest, "What a weirdo, she looked pretty pissed." Ryoko did not comment and finished writing some things in the chart. Rei observed the girl intently, "Hey, now that I think about it she acted like she was jealous or something." She saw Ryoko freeze on the spot, "Are you guys like…sleeping together or something?"

The mocking tone in the older woman's tone angered Ryoko, "I don't see how that is any of your business." She said through gritted teeth and made her way out. "Wai-Wait!" Rei called out, not wanting to be left alone again but Ryoko had already left and she was left alone once again.

"Damn it." She muttered under her breath before grabbing a piece from the table and flinging it to the door once more.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

"Natsuki-san," Natsuki turned around at the sound of her name to find Nina holding a handheld phone device in her hand, " President Yukino is on the line. She wishes to speak with you."

"Thank you Nina." The principal said as she took the phone from Nina and the teacher excused herself. Both Natsuki and Shizuru were on the upper level of the lab where they could see, through a glass wall, the transfusion of blood that Yohko was carrying out.

"Hello?"

"_Natsuki-san, this is Yukino."_

Natsuki smiled, "Yes Yukino, how are you? How may I help you?"

"_I'm good thank you. Actually, I'm calling to let you know that the World Council has been called to meet this afternoon."_

Natsuki's heart began to beat wildly, sensing something bad was going to happen, "A meeting? But why? And why wasn't I informed about it? I also hold a place in the World Council."

"_Yes, I know, but from what I was told you won't be allowed in this meeting. The council has been summoned to take a vote on whether or not Garderobe will be closed down."_

"What?" Anger and worry overtook Natsuki, "That can't be possible! They can't do that!"

"_I'm sorry Natsuki-san, I will vote against it but the council believes that the most recent attacks on the country of Windbloom and the Academy itself pose a great danger to the lives of many and that the only way to see that it does not occur again is to close Garderobe."_

Natsuki took a deep breath, "Thank you for giving me the heads up Yukino."

"_Don't worry Natsuki-san, don't lose hope."_

Once the call ended, Shizuru stepped towards her spouse, "Natsuki…" she trailed off, allowing Natsuki to explain what was going on. The principal sighed, "The World Council is meeting and will be taking a vote to shut us down. Seems like this might be our last strike." Emerald eyes shone brightly with unshed tears.

Not knowing what to say to comfort Natsuki, Shizuru just pulled the bluenette into her arms for a hug.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

Opening the door softly as to not make any sound, Kiyo entered the dark room with a small paper bag. She made her way over quietly and took a seat beside the bed where Chikane was resting. She opened her bag and took out an apple, "Sorry," she said to the sleeping figure, "I'm going to eat here with you, I just donated like a bunch of blood and I'm starving."

As she ate quietly, she watched the girl's chest rise up and down rhythmically.

"So," she began in a soft voice, "they tell me you've been asleep for a long time. You should wake up soon so I can tell you everything that's going on." Taking one of her hands, Kiyo smiled sadly, "I need someone to talk to. Please wake up soon."

"_Please wake up soon."_

_Chikane turned around towards the sound, the voice that seemed so calm yet so sad, but it was now only a fading whisper in the wind. She continued down the muddy trail. With every step the sticky earth made a sickening sound that she tried to forget but she continued walking forth as she heard her name being called ahead. "Chikane!" She heard again, the screaming continued but no matter how hard she tried to run towards it, her feet were slowed down by the mud. _

"_Chikane!" _

_Around her, the dark woods suddenly transformed into reflecting images of Tomoe Marguerite, each of them with a smirk she had never seen herself. Blood covered every one of the faces as she continued, but she could hear the images talking. _

"_Murderer. Traitor. Monster."_

"_No! Shut up!" Chikane tried to cover her ears, not wanting to hear the words being repeated over and over but she felt her arms grow heavy and she could not move them. Suddenly she felt to the ground, the cold mud encasing her face and she could not breathe._

"_Chikane!" _

_She tried moving but could not. She began to panic as she was unable to gasp for oxygen._

_Then it all became bright._

"Chikane!"

Eyes snapping open, she found a bright light shining right into her eyes and suddenly her constricted lungs were able to breathe again. "Okay okay, we have her. She's breathing." She heard a voice say but she could not place it, she felt something cool in her mouth and began to panic until she heard another voice say, "Calm down Chikane. You're okay now. Just relax and breathe."

As Chikane relaxed back into the bed and breathed quietly for a minute, Yohko removed the mouthpiece. "Are you okay?" She asked to which the girl nodded, "Yea," she said softly, "what happened?"

At this moment Kiyo came up to her bedside, "I was here with you and you suddenly began coughing wildly. I called Doctor Yohko and when she got here you had completely stopped breathing," Chikane could see a wet trail down Kiyo's eyes, "I thought you were dying."

"Well, she's okay now," Yohko cut in as she checked the monitor, "Although she will still be under observation just to be safe." Kiyo nodded, "Thank you Yohko-san."

Yohko nodded and left the two students alone. Chikane remained silent for a few more seconds before turning towards Kiyo, "What happened?"

Kiyo sighed, "A lot has happened actually. Relax and I'll tell you all about it." Chikane relaxed into the soft pillows behind her, "Okay. I'm ready."

With a nod, Kiyo began.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

"Let me go damn it!"

Nao rolled her eyes as she continued to pull her cousin roughly by the shoulder while making sure to keep a firm hold on her, "Geez, seems like no matter how many years go by, you're still a whinny little bitch."

"And seems like no matter how many years go by, you're still a psycho." Rei retorted as she tried to pull free to no avail as she was being dragged to the Headmistress' office. "I wouldn't be talking." Nao replied as they came up to the office. She knocked twice before opening the door. Natsuki was alone in her office sitting behind her desk. She looked up to the pair as Nao dragged her cousin to stand in front of her, "Here she is Natsuki." Nao released her grip and took a step back, leaving Rei facing Natsuki.

The observing gaze of the principal unnerved Rei, "What are you looking at?" She asked rudely as she shifted her weight to her right and crossed her arms across her chest. Natsuki relaxed back into her chair, "I am looking at the woman who was directly involved with the kidnapping of my daughter and students and who also assaulted another one of my students. That's what I'm looking at."

Rei scowled, "It's life. I did what I had to, I had no other option." Natsuki stood from the chair and made her way to the front of her desk. Leaning against it, she shook her head lightly, "If everyone thought the same way, chaos would rule the world and there would be no order whatsoever. Garderobe wouldn't exist because nobody would want to be an Otome. The girls here don't do what they have to do. They do what they feel like they must do to accomplish their dreams and become the protectors of tomorrow. There are many options, you just chose the wrong one."

"Not everyone is privileged enough to come to your Barbie academy, Kruger." Rei said bitterly, "Some of us have fewer options to survive. Options that don't involve joining a pretty school like yours. When you're alone in the world and your only options are either to die in the street or be raped by drunks, and suddenly someone offers you the safety of a roof over your head and food in the table, you don't think of the consequences."

"You weren't alone!" Nao cut in as she stepped towards Rei, "You could've come to me, I would've helped you." Rei shook her head, "You couldn't Nao. Nobody could."

Natsuki watched in silence as the woman turned and left the office. Nao moved to go after her but Natsuki stopped her, "Let her go. She won't leave the building and I don't think she is a danger to the students any longer." Nao sighed, "I should've been there for her."

"What happened?" Natsuki asked as she led her friend to sit beside her on the couch.

"When we were younger we were always together although I was several years older than her, so I looked after her as if she were my younger sister but later on, her and her family moved to another part of the country, several hours away from my own home so we didn't see each other that frequently. After I left to Garderobe, her parents were murdered and she disappeared. Everyone thought she had been kidnapped by her parent's murderers but a few years later their bodies were found in front of the police station in the same town where she lived and there was no trace of her. Several years later I received a letter from her saying she was alive and well. After that I didn't hear anything else from her until now."

"She must've been recruited in to work for Osamu then I'm guessing." Natsuki commented but Nao shook her head, "I don't think she worked for him necessarily, she was more under the charge of his daughter, Rika."

"Either way," Natsuki said as she stood up, "I must take action against her. She is a criminal after all." Nao followed behind her, "Please don't Natsuki. She isn't a bad person. I'm sure I can help her find a way to adjust to a life free of crime. I swear."

The principal took a seat back in her desk, "I don't know Nao. It isn't that I don't trust you but-"

"But nothing Natsuki." Nao cut in, "You know that she is under your jurisdiction since she had nothing to do with the attacks directed to Windbloom or Aries."

"We're not sure about that." Natsuki explained. "I'm sure. She was working under Rika, and she was only linked to the kidnappings of your students so you are able to not put any charges against her." Nao finished, hoping her cousin wouldn't go to jail.

"Fine Nao. But I will hold you responsible for _anything_ that happens understand?" Natsuki finally said as she decided she had more important matters to attend. A smile spread on Nao's lips, "Thank you Natsuki! I promise, you won't regret it."

"I sure hope so." Natsuki muttered.

_-TNG-TNG-TNG-_

"Chikane are you sure?" Kiyo asked with concern as she opened the door for the girl. Chikane nodded, "Yes, and thank you again for bringing me these," she motioned to the sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt that Kiyo had brought for her upon her request. "I'm just tired of being in there and I want to go on a quick walk. It'll be okay." She offered the pearl student a smile.

Kiyo sighed as she followed after her, "Fine, but let's make it quick. I don't want Yohko-san to kill me." The two walked down the hall and were about to make a turn to go into the gardens when Chikane abruptly stopped. Kiyo looked past her and saw that a woman stood before them, a look of confusion etched in her face as she stared at Chikane.

Chikane took a step back from the woman, recognizing her immediately. Anger and fear grew simultaneously within her as she recalled as the woman attacked her on the staircase. Kiyo had told her everything that had happened so she also knew that she was involved with the kidnappings although Kiyo had forgotten to mention that they had saved the woman.

Rei tried to recognize the girl but although she seemed familiar, she couldn't place her in her mind. She could tell the girl recognized her but she remained speechless. Rei decided to keep walking but as she made to pass her, the girl grabbed her arm and pulled her back forcefully. Kiyo's eyes widened at this.

"You did this." Chikane's voice was laced with venom as she pulled back her sleeve and revealed a scar in her arm. Kiyo gasped as Rei's eyes widened, suddenly remembering the night of the attack when she had attacked a girl who was going to get help. "So you're the bitch who did this?" Kiyo asked with anger although she already knew the answer. Rei said nothing but saw the brunette take a step towards her with her fists balled up, "I'm going to make you pay for that." The girl threatened as Rei took a step back, knowing that if she got in a fight with the girl, she would certainly get in major trouble. "Calm down kid, I-"

Ryoko had been coming down the hall and had managed to hear Rei's voice in what seemed a nervous tone but she saw as her apology was interrupted by Kiyo's fist flying to her face. Ryoko ran towards them as Rei fell back, "Kiyo! What's going on?" She asked as she kneeled down beside Rei. "She was the one who attacked Chikane," Kiyo explained as she moved towards Rei to attack her again but Chikane got in her way. "Don't Kiyo," pleaded Chikane. She wanted to see the woman pay but she didn't want Kiyo to get in trouble either. Ryoko helped Rei up as the woman covered her bleeding nose. Rei tried to think of something to say back, but she decided against it. She sighed in defeat and allowed herself to be escorted to the lab by Ryoko.

"Ouch!"

Irina heard the complaint as she walked into the lab and found Rei sitting atop a metal table as Ryoko stood in front of her cleaning up what appeared to be a broken nose. She heard Ryoko giggle softly, "Stop complaining, you big baby." She remained frozen in place as she watched the woman shift in her seat slightly, "Thanks Ryoko, I appreciate your help."

Jealousy bubbled in Irina as she saw Ryoko smile softly, "It's okay. I understand why Kiyo punched you but she shouldn't have either way. You were just following orders right?" Rei nodded, "Yea, maybe I went a little overboard but I just wanted to get the job done and go." Irina stayed in her spot, seemingly remaining unnoticed by the pair and watched as Ryoko slid onto the table beside Rei.

What she did not know was that Ryoko had seen her from the corner of her eye before sliding in next to Rei.

Irina's blood began to boil as she saw Ryoko turn towards Rei bashfully, and within seconds, lent in and began to kiss her. Her eyes widened and her throat became dry as she saw Ryoko move her hand up to the back of Rei's head as she pulled her into the kiss fervently. Legs growing weak, Irina turned and made to go but she accidentally bumped into a table and a crystal glass fell and shattered in the ground.

Rei heard the sound and pulled back to turn towards the sound, "Who's there?" she asked as she jumped from the table. Ryoko followed after her as Rei repeated her question, "Who's there damn it?"

Irina clenched her fists as she turned back and stepped into view. Ryoko's facial expression did not betray her emotions as her eyes met Irina's. "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt," Irina's voice was eerily calm as her gaze adverted from Ryoko's, "I was looking for Yohko-san."

"My mother went to take a nap since she has been unable to take a break since yesterday. I'm here making sure Neliel is fine." Ryoko explained as she moved to the table to pick up a stack of papers she had laid there previously. Irina huffed, "You sure are taking great care of Neliel." Ryoko's hand quivered nervously as she scanned through the documents and she spoke with her back turned to Irina, "I'm just doing what I must."

Rei was confused at the awkward tension in the room and wondered if they were really talking about the girl. She had been caught by surprise by Ryoko's sudden boldness but she was not one to reject good-looking girls, especially if that good-looking girl was Ryoko. For some reason, she was already quite taken with the younger woman.

"Does your mother know you are using the lab to make out with a criminal?" Irina asked bluntly, anger blurring her reason, "I highly doubt she will fancy the idea of her daughter having any sort of relationship with a terrorist." Ryoko turned in shock at the woman's bitter words and found Rei fuming at Irina. "How dare you," Rei growled, "You bitc-"

"Stop." Ryoko's voice came beside Rei as Ryoko faced Irina. Rei bit back her tongue to respect Ryoko's wish, yet her body tingled with hunger for payback as her hand moved to her hip reflexively only to find the place where her gun holster belonged, empty. "Irina," Ryoko faced the slightly shorter woman, "you have no right to call Rei any names. You are nobody to judge neither her nor our relationship."

Irina took a step towards them and Ryoko could feel Rei tense up, "So you admit having a relationship with her?"

At that moment, a strange sound revered in the room. They froze and tried to make out what the sound was until Rei spoke up, "That's Neliel. She's crying."

They rushed to the opposite side of the lab where the girl had been laying unconscious and now she was sat up on her bed, her hands rubbing her eyes as she cried.

The three women stood around her as she looked up to them, her eyes showing fear and confusion.

"Where's my mommy?" She asked, her voice a little more than a whisper.

* * *

**A/N: Review? :)**


End file.
